6.5-quake shakes Surigao

MANILA, Philippines—A strong earthquake rattled Surigao del Sur on Saturday sending about a thousand residents fleeing briefly to higher ground, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami warnings were issued.

The quake, which hit at 2:17 a.m., had a magnitude of 6.5, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The US Geological Survey measured the shaker’s magnitude at 6.4.

The institute said the quake’s epicenter was 22 kilometers northeast of Tandag City, or 832 km southeast of Manila. It hit at a depth of 78 kilometers.

“There was no damage, no casualties,” Civil Defense chief Benito Ramos said hours after the temblor hit. “The earthquake was strong, but its source was deep and far.”

The institute recorded several aftershocks, but Ramos said they were hardly felt in the area. He said no tsunami warnings were issued.

Surigao del Sur provincial administrator Efren Rivas said about 1,000 residents of Tandag fled to the elevated grounds of the provincial capitol when the quake struck but returned to their homes shortly after.

The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon in 1990.