
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 16, 1990                   TAG: 9007160266
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANILA, PHILIPPINES                                LENGTH: Medium

MAJOR QUAKE HITS PHILIPPINES

A major earthquake rocked Manila and surrounding Luzon island today and officials reported at least 44 people killed, most when a six-story college building north of Manila collapsed.

Scores more were believed trapped under the rubble of crumbled buildings, including 150 reportedly trapped in the Hyatt Hotel in the mountain resort of Baguio.

Some counts put the death toll at 69, and it was expected to rise as rescue operations proceeded.

The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., registered the quake at 7.7 on the Richter scale. The June 21 earthquake in Iran registered between 7.3 and 7.7 and killed at least 40,000 people. There were scores of aftershocks.

The Office of Civil Defense said the Philippine Christian College collapsed in the provincial capital of Cabanatuan City. The city of more than 80,000 is 60 miles north of Manila and was near the epicenter.

The office said at least 34 people were killed in the city and outlying area, but earlier reports from the office had said 41 were killed in Cabanatuan. Officials in Cabanatuan said hundreds of students were unaccounted for, but it was uncertain how many were in the building when it collapsed.

In Baguio, 110 miles to the north, portions of several luxury hotels collapsed. The Manila radio station DZRH said 150 people were trapped in the Hyatt Hotel. A woman who identified herself as a public relations officer of the hotel said most of those trapped were in the casino.

She did not give her name. Officials in Baguio appealed for heavy equipment and for blood which they said was in short supply.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager said medical supplies had been sent to Baguio by helicopter.

Air Force Master Sgt. Dan Fuller, reached by telephone at the U.S.-run Camp John Hay in Baguio, said the city was without electricity and that damage was widespread.

"We're without power," he said. "We've had structural damage here on base. We do have seven buildings down downtown which as far as we know they are compeletely fallen in." He said U.S. personnel assisted in rescue efforts.

by CNB