Philippines rocked by huge 6.9 magnitude earthquake

An earthquake has hit off the coast of the Philippines.

Both the United States Geological Survey and German Research Centre for Geosciences have reported a major quake this afternoon.

The agencies are reporting different magnitudes for the quake, with USGS saying the quake hit 6.9 magnitude with the German agency reporting a magnitude of 6.7.

The epicentre of the quake was around 11km (seven miles) east-southeast of Calape, a municipality in Bohol province with a population of around 33,000 people.

It’s also thought to have hit Leyte, the eighth-largest island in the Philippines with a population of more than 2.6million people.

Shortly afterwards, an aftershock quake of magnitude 5.2 was recorded in the same region.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said there is no threat of a tsunami following the quake.

So far there are no reports of casualties or damage, but the local seismology office warned of a possible ‘minor sea-level disturbance’.

It urged residents of the Leyte, Cebu and Biliran islands to ‘stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast’.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, an area of intense volcanic and seismic activity reaching from Japan, across south east Asia, and across the Pacific basin.

While quakes are a near-daily occurrence there, most are too weak to be felt by humans. There is currently no technology able to predict where and when stronger, destructive earthquakes could hit.

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