Very powerful earthquake 7 Richter hit the north today Philippines, killing at least two people, injuring dozens of others and sowing panic to the residents, as well shook buildings as far as the capital Manila, at a distance of 300 kilometers from its epicenter.
According to the United States Seismological Institute (USGS), the vibration was registered at 08:43 (local time 03:43 Greek time) at a small focal depth of ten kilometers, in the mountainous province of Ambra on the largest island of the Philippines, Luzon. The USGS revised its estimate of the magnitude of the earthquake to 7.0 from 7.1 earlier.
A A 25-year-old worker was killed when the three-story building where he worked collapsed in the city of La Trinidad, the capital of Benguet province, according to police. Seven other workers who were there escaped unharmed. Another death was reported in Abra province.
In the city of Dolores, 11 kilometers from the epicenter, as reported by the APE-MPE, Terrified residents rushed out of their homes while windows and storefronts of buildings were shattered, according to Police Chief Edwin Sergio. “The earthquake was very strong,” Sergio emphasized, adding that he caused it cracks in his police station building. It was said that the tremor even overturned vegetable stalls in the city’s market.
Another police officer said they were served several injured in hospitals. That officer, Nazareno Emia, said there were “cracks in several buildings” and that “electricity and internet access were interrupted.”
MP Ching Bernos said the earthquake caused “damage to several houses and businesses”.
Video circulated on social media and verified by AFP also shows cracks in a road in Benguet.
In Vigan City, in the neighboring province of Ilocos Sur, buildings from the period of Spanish colonial rule (1565-1898) were damaged.
Mira Zapata, a student, said he was at home in San Juan when he felt “very strong earthquake”. He added that he rushed out amid continuous aftershocks. “Our house is in good shape, but the ones on the hill were damaged.”
They were mentioned landslides in several areas. According to Mark Timball, a spokesman for the national disaster agency, none of the dams in the area were damaged, and operations are underway to open roads that were closed.
The earthquake was felt more than 300 kilometers away
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gave the order to send search and rescue teams immediately and aid to Abra province, his spokeswoman announced.
Marcos will be flown to the affected area later in the day, Philippine presidential spokeswoman Trixie Cruz-Angeles assured during a press conference.
Skyscrapers shook in the capital Manila, more than 300 kilometers south of the epicenter of the earthquake.
The archipelago is often hit by strong earthquakes, as it is located on the so-called “ring of fire” in the Pacific Ocean, where seismic and volcanic activity is intense.
Today’s was the strongest earthquake in several years.
In October 2013, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake on the island of Bohol (central) killed over 200 people and displaced 400,000. That tremor had caused devastating landslides. Dozens of homes, as well as historic places of worship dating back to the first appearance of Catholicism in the Philippines, were destroyed.
In 1990, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, also in the northern Philippines, had killed more than 1,200 people, caused extensive damage to the capital, Manila, and ruptured a fault line more than 100 kilometers long.
Source: News Beast
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