Manila, May 12, (dpa/GNA) – An 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted a Philippine province south of the capital on Wednesday, but no major damage or casualties was reported, officials said.
The quake’s epicentre was located off the town of Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro province, 137 kilometres south of Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said there was no threat of a tsunami from the tremor, but warned that aftershocks were possible.
The earthquake was felt with varying intensity in the capital region of Metro Manila, nearby provinces and as far as the northern provinces of Bulacan and Zambales, the institute said in a bulletin.
Mario Mulingbayan, head of Occidental Mindoro’s disaster agency, said a team has been deployed to check structures for any possible damage.
“The order was to assess infrastructure, including houses, especially those in mountainous areas, for visible damage,” he told DZBB radio station in Manila.
Mulingbayan said authorities have so far not received reports of casualties.
The Philippines is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where about 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes take place.
The last major quake to hit the country was a 7.1-magnitude quake that killed more than 220 people in the central Philippines in October 2013.
In July 1990, more than 2,400 people were killed on the northern island of Luzon in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever to hit the country.
GNA