6.0-Magnitude earthquake rocks Southern Philippines

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake jolted the southern Philippines on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, with local authorities warning of aftershocks and possible damage.

The shallow quake struck at about 2:00 pm (0600 GMT), a few kilometres from Maragusan municipality in the mountainous gold-mining province of Davao de Oro on Mindanao island.

 

Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more harm than deeper ones, but there were no immediate confirmed reports of major damage.

An employee in the Maragusan disaster office told AFP that authorities were checking reports of a landslide on a national highway.

“We have not received any reports of other damage or casualties, but we are checking the villages around the town,” he added, declining to give his name.

“Things shook at the office but there was no damage.”

The quake lasted about 30 seconds and was followed by aftershocks, said Corporal Stephanie Clemen, with police in the city of Tagum, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Maragusan.

“We immediately went under our desks and when the ground stopped shaking we went straight outside,” Clemen told AFP.

“We are still outside because a moderate aftershock just hit.”

While the quake did not appear to have destroyed anything, Clemen said, it was strong enough to “cause fear”.

Phoebe Alberto and her colleagues at the disaster office in New Bataan municipality, adjacent to Maragusan, fled their building as it shook.

“We are still assessing damage to our building if any. We are here outside now, said Alberto

In the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of strong seismic and volcanic activity that spans from Japan to Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin, earthquakes occur on a daily basis.

Most are too weak to be sensed by humans, but powerful and destructive ones strike at random, with no technology to forecast when or where they will strike.