A violent earthquake of magnitude 7.1 strikes the northern Philippines

A violent earthquake of magnitude 7.1 struck Wednesday a mountainous region of the northern Philippines, sowing panic among residents and shaking buildings in the capital Manila. According to the U.S. Seismological Institute (USGS), the tremor was recorded at 08:43 local, at a depth of 10 km in the province of Abra, on the main island of Luzon.

 

In the town of Dolores, located very close to the epicenter, terrified residents ran from their homes and the windows of the local market shattered, local police commander Edwin Sergio told AFP. The earthquake was very strong, said Edwin Sergio. The fruit and vegetable tables in the market were overturned, he continued, adding that cracks appeared on the walls of the police station.

 

Another police commander, Nazareno Emia, told AFP that several injured people had been taken to hospital. Some buildings have cracks. Electricity and internet are cut off, Emia said. Rep. Ching Bernos, who represents the Lone district in Abra, said the quake had caused damage to many homes and businesses, without elaborating. A video posted on Facebook and verified by AFP also showed cracks in a paved road and the ground in the town of Bangued, but no visible damage to stores or homes.

 

In Vigan City, in the neighboring province of Ilocos Sur, buildings dating from the Spanish colonial period (1565-1898) were damaged. Verified videos posted on Facebook showed damage to the historic Bantay Bell Tower, a famous tourist attraction, among other things.

 

Landslides were reported in some parts of the affected area, said National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Mark Timbal. He added that no damage had been reported on dams and that clearing operations were underway on roads.

 

The Philippines is regularly hit by earthquakes because of its position on the Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic activity that surrounds the Pacific Ocean through Japan and Southeast Asia. Wednesday's earthquake was the most powerful in the country in years.

 

In October 2013, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on the island of Bohol, in the center of the country, had caused more than 200 deaths and 400,000 displaced. The tremor had triggered catastrophic landslides. Tens of thousands of houses as well as historical churches dating from the beginning of Catholicism in the Philippines were destroyed. This powerful earthquake had modified the landscape of the island and caused a spectacular ground rupture, making part of the ground rise up to three meters and creating a wall of rock above the epicenter.

 

In 1990, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 in the north of the Philippines killed  more than 1200 people, caused extensive damage in Manila as well as a rupture of the ground on more than one hundred kilometers.