Disasters & Accidents

Magnitude 6.2 quake hits Philippines northern coast near Manila

Manila, June 15 (EFE).- An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 shook Thursday the coast of southern Luzon, north of the Philippines and about 100 kilometers from Manila, without authorities initially reporting damage or declaring a tsunami alert.

The United States Geological Survey, which records seismic activity worldwide, located the quake at a depth of 124 kilometers, off the southwestern coast of the island of Luzon, at 10:19 local time (2:19 GMT.)

The tremor was registered just 4 kilometers from the coast of Calatagan, a municipality in the province of Batangas with more than 58,000 inhabitants, about 90 kilometers southwest of Manila, where it was felt strongly.

School classes have been suspended in Calatagan to assess possible damage to buildings and due to the risk of aftershocks, authorities reported.

Videos posted on various social media show Calatagan residents waiting on the street to return to their homes and jobs, without local authorities having reported victims or serious material damage so far.

Several institutional buildings in Manila were evicted after the earthquake, including the parliament lower house, the stock exchange and the country’s human rights commission, as well as most of the capital’s university campuses.

The Manila subway has also stopped its activity and authorities forced passengers to vacate cars.

The Philippine seismological agency ruled out in a statement that the earthquake is related to the increasing volcanic activity of Mayon and Taal, both volcanoes on the island of Luzon, relatively close to the epicenter of the earthquake.

The Philippines sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity in which some 7,000 earthquakes are recorded yearly, most of them moderate. EFE

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