A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked the central Philippines on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, although there were no reports of casualties or significant damage.
The powerful, shallow quake struck just off Masbate province in the center of the archipelago nation shortly after 2 a.m. (1800 GMT).
The epicenter was 11 kilometers (seven miles) from the coastal village of Miaga in the Uson municipality of Masbate, the USGS said.
The Philippine Seismological Agency said it recorded more than 80 aftershocks.
“It was a bit strong,” Masbate provincial police chief Rolly Albana told AFP.
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“I was sleeping when we were shaken and woken up.”
The province has nearly one million inhabitants spread over three islands.
Adonis Dilao, provincial disaster officer in Masbate, told local media that some buildings in the capital, Masbate City, had cracks in their walls, including the provincial hospital.
The patients had been evacuated from the facility, he said.
A section of the ceiling of a sports and entertainment hall in the city also collapsed.
“The substations were moving, even the parked cars were shaking,” Dilao said.
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Masbate town mayor Socrates Tuason said classes and government work would be suspended on Thursday to allow “monitoring and inspection of the structural integrity” of buildings.
Uson Police Chief Capt. Reden Toledo said some residents had fled their homes.
“Even I walked out because of possible aftershocks,” Toledo said.
Gregorio Adigue, a disaster officer in Dimasalang municipality, said he felt a strong aftershock nearly an hour after the quake.
But buildings and other structures in the area do not appear to have been damaged, he said.
Other earthquakes
On Ticao Island, which is part of Masbate province, residents of a house reported that a wall had collapsed, but they were not injured, said Consencino Reymundo, a police officer. disasters in the municipality of San Fernando.
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“We lost electricity but it was restored two hours later,” Reymundo told AFP.
Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan to Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but there are also powerful and destructive ones, with no technology available to predict when and where they will strike.
The country’s Civil Defense office regularly conducts drills simulating earthquake scenarios along active fault lines.
The last major earthquake occurred in October in the northern Philippines.
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The 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit the mountain town of Dolores in Abra province, injuring several people, damaging buildings and knocking out power to most of the area.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the Abra mountain last July caused landslides and cracks in the ground, killing 11 people and injuring several hundred.
By Mikhail Flores © Agence France-Presse
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