A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit the northern Philippine island of Luzon on Wednesday. One death has been reported so far: A 25-year-old construction worker died when the three-story building he was working on collapsed. Many houses and buildings have been damaged. In some places the power has been turned off as a precaution.
A hospital in Abra province has been evacuated after the building partially collapsed, but no casualties have been reported, officials said. Governor Joy Bernos of Abra posted photos of the damaged hospital on Facebook. This includes a large 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 expects strong aftershocks and 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.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose family is from the north, will visit the affected region as soon as it is safe, his spokeswoman said.
The earthquake was also felt in the capital Manila, some 233 miles south of the earthquake’s epicenter. Several buildings have been 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 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.
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