CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A strong earthquake hit the southern Philippines and killing at least 6 people and injured over 100 people in Surigao City alone, officials said on Saturday.
Officials said many structures were damaged from the 6.7 magnitude tremor that struck late Friday. “As of this time, we have six fatalities and (at least) 125 injured,” said Senior Superintendent Anthony Maghari, the provincial police chief of Surigao del Norte.
Volcanologists said dozens of aftershocks had been recorded and that many more are likely to occur in the next days, but is less destructive. No tsunami warnings were released by the authorities, but the extent of the damage was so huge that it cut off electricity in the city and left deep cracks on roads, including the airport’s runway that paralyzed many aircrafts.
The shallow epicenter of the earthquake was traced just 13 kilometers east of Surigao and this explained its powerful force.
The Philippines is located in the so-called “Ring of Fire,” an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a 40,000 km horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plate movements.
The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. It is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt or the circum-Pacific seismic belt. (Mindanao Examiner)
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