A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, on Saturday night (2), triggering evacuations for other areas of the country and the southwest coast of Japan, due to warnings of tsunami waves of 1 meter or more .
The Philippine Seismology Agency Phivolcs said waves could hit the Philippines at midnight and continue for hours, although there have been no reports of significant damage from the waves at that point.
The US Tsunami Warning System said there could be waves up to 3 meters above normal along the Philippine coast, although it later said there was no risk of a tsunami.
“Based on all available data… the tsunami threat from this earthquake has passed,” he said.
Phivolcs said people living near the coast of Surigao Del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces should “immediately evacuate” or “move inland.”
“Boats that are already at sea during this period must remain at sea, in deep waters, until further notice,” he said.
The two provinces are largely rural and not densely populated, unlike other parts of the Philippines.
Japanese broadcaster NHK said tsunami waves of up to 1 meter were expected to hit the southwest coast of Japan at 1:30 am on Sunday (3).
Phivolcs said it did not expect significant damage from the quake itself, but warned of aftershocks.
The area has already been hit by more than a dozen aftershocks, the largest of which measured magnitude 6.4, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC).
Raymark Gentallan, local police chief in the coastal town of Hinatuan, which is near the quake’s epicenter and has a population of about 44,000, said power has been cut since the quake but disaster response teams have not yet monitored any casualties or damages.
“We are evacuating people from coastal areas,” he said.
Photographs posted on social media by the Hinatuan local administration showed dozens of residents and lines of vehicles moving to higher ground, with a large shelter occupied by several dozen people.
Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which lies on the “Ring of Fire,” a belt of volcanoes that surrounds the Pacific Ocean and is prone to seismic activity.
EMSC said the magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred at a depth of 63 km (39 miles), while the US Geographic Survey placed the quake at magnitude 7.6 and a depth of 32 km (20 miles).
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Source: CNN Brasil
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