Manila, Dec. 25, (dpa/GNA) – A magnitude-6.3 earthquake jolted the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, including the capital Manila, on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage, officials said.
The quake’s epicentre was located north-west of Calatagan town in Batangas province, 93 kilometres south of Manila, said Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
“No tsunami will be generated by this quake,” he told Manila radio station DZMM. “We also don’t expect significant damage, but we are waiting for initial report from the affected areas.”
Solidum said aftershocks were expected from the earthquake, which was felt in various intensities in a wide area on the main island of Luzon, including Manila.
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