The death toll from a powerful earthquake in the central Philippines approached 60 on Wednesday, with injured patients overwhelming hospitals on the island of Cebu as workers carried dozens of body bags away in the chaotic aftermath.

The shallow magnitude 6.9 quake struck at 9:59 pm (1359 GMT) Tuesday off the island's northern end near Bogo, a city of 90,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Injured children cried and adults screamed while receiving treatment on beds laid out beneath blue tents on the driveway of the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Bogo.

They had been wheeled out of the building amid fears of further harm as hundreds of aftershocks rocked the region overnight.

Nearby, hospital workers carried black body bags on stretchers into vans that will take them to local mortuaries, AFP journalists saw.

Up to 60 people are reported killed so far, Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro said.

"We are receiving additional numbers of reported casualties so this thing is very fluid," he told reporters in Manila.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council earlier listed 147 injured across the central islands, where 22........

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