Strong earthquakes rattle Philippines and Indonesia

Two strong earthquakes struck parts of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on Monday (14 March), but there were no immediate reports of damage.

A 6.4-magnitude quake hit about 110km off Morong in Bataan province on Luzon Island at 5:05am, with residents in nearby Manila woken by their buildings shaking.

The quake occurred at a depth of 11km, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The US National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami risk from the quake.

Shallow quakes tend to do more damage than deep tremors, but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said damage was not expected.

‘It’s strong and it’s shaking as if it’s dancing sideways,’ said Lieutenant Aristotle Calayag, acting police chief of Lubang town in Occidental Mindoro, an island off Luzon. ‘The people are used to earthquakes like this, so they didn’t rush outside or panic.’

Morong police chief Captain Michelle Gaziola told Agence France-Presse the quake was ‘a bit strong but it was brief’.

Shortly after, a magnitude 6.7 quake shook west Sumatra.

USGS said the quake’s epicentre was 167km west of Pariaman city near Kepulauan Batu at a depth of 21.8km.

There was no immediate word on tsunami risk.

The Philippines and Indonesia are regularly rocked by quakes due to their 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.

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