Philippine quake damages historic churches

October 16, 2013 at 11:18a.m.

LOON, Philippines (AP) - The earthquake that struck the central Philippines and killed at least 144 people also dealt a serious blow to the region’s historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. As rescuers reached some of the hardest hit areas today and the death toll from the quake a day earlier continued to rise, images of the wrecked religious buildings resonated across a nation where 80 percent of the population is Catholic.