6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes off central Philippines

ISLAMABAD: A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the central Philippines on Tuesday evening, with the US Geological Survey saying there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The local seismology office warned of possible “minor surface disturbances” and urged residents of the main islands of Leyte, Cebu and Biliran to “stay away from the coast and not go ashore.”

The epicenter of the quake was off the northern tip of Cebu island and in the sea near Bogo, a city of more than 90,000 people, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, and both damage and aftershocks are expected.

Cebu firefighter Joey Leguid told AFP from San Fernando Town: “We felt a shaking here in our station, it was very strong. We saw our locker moving from left to right, we felt a little dizzy for a while but now we are fine.”

Martham Paislan, 25, a resident of the resort town of Bantayan, near the epicenter, said he was in the town square near the church when the quake struck.

“I heard a loud boom from the direction of the church then I saw rocks falling from the structure. Luckily no one was hurt,” he told AFP.

“I was in shock and panic at the same time but my body couldn’t move, I was just waiting for it to shake.”

Agnes Mirza, a caregiver based in Bantayan, said the tiles in her kitchen had cracked.

“It felt like we were all going to fall. This is the first time I’ve experienced this. The neighbors all ran out of their houses. My two teenage helpers hid under a table because that’s what they were taught in the Boy Scouts,” the 65-year-old told AFP.

The USGS had reported a magnitude reading of 7.0 before revising it down.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was “no tsunami threat from this earthquake” and “no action is required.”

Earthquakes occur almost daily in the Philippines, which lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive ones occur at random, with no technology available to predict when or where they might strike.