A large earthquake occurred off the coast of the Philippines’ main island on Monday, jolting buildings in the capital Manila, but little damage was reported right away, and no tsunami warning was issued.
At 5:05 a.m. (2105 GMT), a shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck roughly 110 kilometers (68 miles) off Morong in Bataan province on Luzon island, jolting inhabitants in neighboring Manila awake.
Deep shakes do greater damage than shallow quakes, although the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology stated no harm was predicted.
“It’s forceful, and it’s shaking sideways,” said Lieutenant Aristotle Calayag, acting police chief of Lubang town in Occidental Mindoro, an island off the coast of Luzon.
“People are used to earthquakes like these,” he explained, “so they didn’t run outdoors or panic.”
The tremor was “a little powerful but fleeting,” Morong police commander Captain Michelle Gaziola told AFP.
“We’re OK.” “The majority of individuals are still sleeping.”
Because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of strong seismic activity that runs from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin, the Philippines is routinely shaken by quakes.