Earthquake in the Philippines: The island nation was jolted by a strong 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Friday. This is the second strong earthquake to strike Philippines in about 11 days. The last quake on September 30 left 72 people dead.
An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck off the southern Philippine province on Friday morning, prompting warnings of a possible hazardous tsunami in nearby areas.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the quake was expected to cause damage and aftershocks. It was centredย at sea, about 62 kilometres southeast of Manay town in Davao Oriental province, and resulted from movement along a fault at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu reported that hazardous waves could occur within 300 kilometres of the epicentre, though it added that there was no wider threat of a tsunami.
Second strong quake in Philippines
Friday’s earthquake revived the horrors of the September 30ย earthquake, which left 72 people dead and more than 200 injured.ย
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake had struck around 10 pm (local time) on Tuesday, trapping an unknown number of residents in the city of Bogo and surrounding rural towns in Cebu province. Deaths were also reported in the nearby towns of Medellin and San Remigio. Officials said three coast guard personnel, a firefighter, and a child were killed by collapsing walls and falling debris while trying to escape to safety from a basketball game at a sports complex disrupted by the quake.
The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the central region in over a decade, occurring while many people were at home or asleep.
Earthquake-prone Philippines
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology briefly issued a tsunami warning, advising residents to avoid the coastlines of Cebu and the nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran. The warning was lifted within hours, with no waves reported.
Despite this, thousands of shaken residents chose not to return home, spending the night in open grassy fields and parks, even as intermittent rain fell.
The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific โRing of Fire,โ an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
Also read:ย Historic Bantayan church collapses as strong earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hits Philippines | Watch
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