A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit the northern Philippine island of Luzon on Wednesday. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported so far. However, there is material damage to houses and buildings and in some places the power has been switched off as a precaution.
A hospital in Abra province was evacuated after the building partially collapsed, but no casualties were reported, officials said. Governor Joy Bernos of Abra posted photos of the damaged hospital on Facebook. This includes a gaping hole in the front facade. Other photos show hospital beds, one with a patient, being driven down the road by hospital staff.
Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Seismology Bureau, spoke on a radio station of a “major earthquake”. He also said he expected strong aftershocks and that landslides have been reported in some parts of Abra, home to nearly 250,000 people. Abra is a landlocked province in the northern Philippines. Deep valleys and rolling hills are enclosed by rugged mountains.
The earthquake was also felt in capital Manila, where several buildings were evacuated. The metro system was also shut down during the morning rush hour.
Like Indonesia, the Philippines is located on the ‘ring of fire’, an area in the Pacific Ocean with nearly 130 active volcanoes and where many earthquakes also occur. In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Bohol Island in the central Philippines, killing more than 200 people. In 1990, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused a landslide of more than 100 kilometers, resulting in an estimated 1,200 fatalities.