A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Mindanao island at a depth of 32 kilometers and four more aftershocks with a magnitude of more than 6 were recorded in the hours after it on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) announced.
After the first impact, a tsunami warning was issued in the Pacific region and residents of the eastern coast of Mindanao abandoned their buildings to move to higher regions. The hospital was also evacuated.
However, there have been no reports of major damage to buildings or infrastructure so far, officials confirmed to AFP on Sunday.
A 30-year-old man was killed when an interior wall of a house collapsed on him in Bislig, Surigao del Sur province, a local official confirmed.
A pregnant woman was killed in Tagumo, northern Davao province, the national disaster agency said, without giving further details.
Officials also said some roads in the city were cracked due to the earthquake and aftershocks, but cars could drive through them.
In Tandago, 100 km north of Bislig, two people were hit by falling debris and suffered minor injuries.
The National Disaster Management Agency registered a total of four injured, but it was not clear if the number included the two injured in Tandag.
Officials in the municipality of Hinatuan, located about 21 km from the epicenter, say they are still collecting information on damage to villages and possible casualties.
The Philippine Seismological Institute initially warned of a “destructive tsunami” that was expected to cause life-threatening waves.
3:23 a.m. local (Saturday 9:32 p.m. Lithuanian) time, the institute issued a statement that the maximum waves caused by the seismic shock on the island of Moss reached 0.64 meters, but also announced that the danger of a tsunami had passed.
A small swell was reported along Japan’s eastern Pacific coast, where a tsunami warning was also briefly issued. The Palau archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean, about 900 km from Mindanao, said it was unaffected by the quake.
The latest tremors come almost two weeks after a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck Mindanao, killing at least nine people, shaking buildings and causing part of a shopping center’s ceiling to collapse.
Earthquakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, located above the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches across the Pacific basin from Japan through Southeast Asia.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but there are occasional powerful destructive shocks, and there is no technology to predict when or where they will occur.
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2024-08-23 20:22:22
