A strong earthquake shook Luzon Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage, the US Geological Survey and local officials said.
The deep 5.7-magnitude quake, of tectonic origin, struck off Batangas province, south of Metro Manila, at 1:12 am, with residents in the nearby capital of Manila woken by their buildings shaking.
The quake was recorded at a depth of 98 kilometers, the USGS said. The local seismological agency warned of damage and aftershocks.
According to the theory, a tectonic earthquake occurs when strains in rock masses have accumulated to a point where the resulting stresses exceed the strength of the rocks, and sudden fracturing results.
Deep quakes tend to do less damage than shallow tremors.
Earthquakes, experts say, are caused by a sudden fracture of rock masses along a fault line.
But authorities near the epicenter said they had not received any reports of damage.
“It was really strong,” said Jose Clyde Yayong, a disaster officer in Tagaytay City in Cavite.
“So far there are no untoward incidents relating to the earthquake.”
Leonardo Tristan, a disaster officer in Looc town on Occidental Mindoro island, said the force of the quake sent some residents rushing outside.
“My wife was shouting ‘there’s an earthquake!’” Tristan told the news agency Agence France-Presse.
The Philippines is regularly rocked by quakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. With AFP