Powerful quake shakes southern Philippines

Manila: A powerful undersea earthquake shook the southern Philippines on Friday, causing ceilings in shopping malls to plunge to the ground as shoppers screamed. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and no tsunami warning was in effect.

The magnitude 6.7 quake was located 26 km from Burias at the southern tip of the Philippines, the US Geological Survey said. It was centred at a depth of 78 km, it said. Videos posted on social media showed ceilings falling at two large malls as pillars swayed and people cowered and shouted in fear. 

The SM City General Santos mall and Robinsons Gen San mall announced temporary closures.

There were no reports of injuries. The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

“I think it was the strongest earthquake I’ve ever experienced,” Keeshia Leyran, 27, told AFP from Davao City, about 200 km from the epicentre, where she was attending a conference.

“People around me were panicking and running to go outside. There are hundreds of people here at the event, so I was more scared of a stampede happening to be honest,” she added.

Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic as well as volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.