An offshore magnitude-6.0 earthquake rattled Indonesia and the Philippines on Saturday evening with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) tracing its epicenter about 139 kilometers off Sarangani, Davao Occidental.
In an updated earthquake bulletin, Phivolcs said the tremor was tectonic in origin and struck at 6:34 p.m. on Black Saturday at a depth of 34 kilometers. The state seismic agency expected no damage but warned of aftershocks particularly in areas where strong intensities had been reported.
Based on monitoring, the quake was felt in General Santos City and Glan, Sarangani at Intensity 3. The towns of Sarangani and Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental reported it at Intensity 2 as well as Davao City and some areas in South Cotabato, Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat.
Other neighboring locations felt the tremor at Intensity I while instrumental intensities were recorded elsewhere across Southern Mindanao.
The US Geological Survey (USGS), meanwhile, said a magnitude-6.0 earthquake also struck off Indonesia’s remote northern Talaud islands on Saturday with no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The tremor struck at a depth of 99 kilometers (61 miles), some 90 kilometers southeast of Sarangani province on the Philippine island of Mindanao.
Harry Sauro, a provincial disaster official, told Agence France Presse (AFP) the quake was only “slightly felt” and there were no reports of damage or injuries.
Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which with Indonesia and other neighbours is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said there was no threat of a tsunami.
A magnitude-9.1 quake struck Indonesia’s westernmost Aceh province in 2004, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia. –With Agence France Presse
