The Philippines was rocked by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported, although so far no damage has been reported, officials said.
The quake struck at around 10:00 a.m. (02:00 GMT) at a depth of 124 km, with the epicenter in the municipality of Calatagan, about a three-hour drive from Manila.
Calatagan police chief Emil Mendoza said workers at the police station rushed outside because of the tremor, which was also felt in densely populated areas like the capital.
“It was quite strong. We had to run outside,” he told AFP.
So far, there is no information on casualties or damage, but emergency services were deployed in the area to assess the impact of the quake, according to Mendoza.
Roland Torres, head of Calatagan’s disaster management agency, mentioned that the tremor lasted between 30 seconds and one minute.
The country’s seismological agency warned of possible aftershocks but ruled out the risk of a tsunami due to the depth of the earthquake.
In the capital, residents ran out into the streets when they felt the tremor.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport temporarily closed its runways to check for damage to the tarmac, the country’s Transport Ministry said.
Subway service in the capital was also halted to inspect for possible damage to the tracks.
Diego Mariano, head of information at the civil defense office, mentioned that so far there have been no reports of major damage or casualties.
Earthquakes are frequent in this archipelago located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region of intense seismic and volcanic activity that extends from Japan to Southeast Asia.
In October 2013, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the island of Bohol in the center of the country, killing approximately 200 people. Many ancient churches, considered the cradle of Catholicism in the Philippines, were destroyed. In addition, nearly 400,000 people were displaced, and tens of thousands of homes were damaged by the quake.
In 1990, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the north of the country caused a rift hundreds of kilometers wide and caused more than 1,200 deaths.