A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit the northern Philippines Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said, shattering windows of buildings at the epicentre and shaking high-rise towers more than 300 kilometres (185 miles) away in the capital Manila.
The shallow but powerful quake struck the mountainous and lightly populated province of Abra on the main island of Luzon at 8:43 am (0043 GMT), the USGS said.
Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones. The quake was very strong,” Sergio said, adding there were small cracks in the police station building. Vegetables and fruits sold in the market were also disarranged after tables were toppled.”
A video posted on Facebook and verified by AFP showed cracks in the asphalt road and ground in the nearby town of Bangued, though there was no visible damage to houses or stores. But a number of injured people in Bangued were taken to hospital, police chief Major Nazareno Emia told AFP.
“Some of the buildings here show cracks. Power was cut off and internet as well,” he added. Congressman Ching Bernos, who represents the Lone District of Abra, said the quake “caused damages to many households and establishments”, but did not elaborate.
University student Mira Zapata was in her house in the town of San Juan when she felt “really strong shaking”. We started shouting and rushed outside,” she said, as aftershocks continued. Our house is ok but houses down the hill were damaged.
The Philippines is regularly rocked by quakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Wednesday’s quake was the strongest recorded in the Philippines in years.
In Vigan City, in the nearby province of Ilocos Sur, centuries-old structures built during the Spanish colonial period were damaged. Verified video posted on Facebook showed the Bantay Bell Tower in the popular tourist destination partially crumbling.
“We can’t rule out the possibility of another strong earthquake,” said Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Bohol Island in the central Philippines, killing over 200 people and triggering landslides. Old churches in the birthplace of Catholicism in the Philippines were badly damaged. Nearly 400,000 were displaced and tens of thousands of houses were damaged.
Source: eNCA
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