A 6.3 –magnitude quake rocked Gutad, the Philippines on Monday (4/22) at 5.11 pm local time. The tremor was centered 40 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, as the USGS said.
An eyewitness in the country’s capital Manila said that she felt her office at the Makati business district was shaken by the quake.
Several pictures uploaded in social media showed the ongoing evacuation process in shopping malls, office buildings, and schools. Customers and employees’ of a grocery were trapped in the ground floor, NBC reported.
One of the worst-hit buildings was the Clark airport, a former U.S Air Force base. Clark airport temporarily ceased its operation down due to the quake and canceled 100 flights so far. Seven were slightly injured after the collapse of ceilings and parts in the departure area, Jaime Melo, the airport official, explained.
The Manila Times reported eight were dead. Also, the tremor triggered a blackout, forcing hospital patients to be evacuated.
Deputy Governor of Pampanga Province Daniel Fernando in his social media account warned everyone to be alert for possible aftershocks. Local experts recorded 17 aftershocks as of 5.53 pm.
The Philippines saw its deadliest quake in 1990 when a magnitude of 7.7 killed 2,000. The country is one of the countries prone to volcanoes eruptions and earthquakes as it is located in a so-called ‘Ring of Fire” an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean, which is home to 90 percent of the world’s tremors and 75 percent of its volcanoes.
