WHAT WENT BEFORE: 1968 7.3-magnitude Luzon quake

At 4:19 a.m. on Aug. 2, 1968, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Luzon, causing severe damage and deaths in Manila.

The quake was centered in Casiguran, Quezon province.

It was considered one of the most destructive earthquakes experienced in the Philippines.

Ruby Tower Apartments, a six-story building on Doroteo Jose Street in Binondo, Manila, collapsed during the earthquake.

The temblor killed 270 people and injured 261. At least 17 buildings in Manila were damaged.

Ruby Tower had 38 shops and offices on the first and second floors and 76 apartments on the upper four floors.

Most of the building collapsed, except for a part of the northern end of the first and second floors, killing 268 people and injuring 260 others.

Several major buildings in Binondo, including structures on Escolta Street, sustained varying levels of structural damage.

The Philippine Bar Association building, a six-story commercial structure in Intramuros with offices and club rooms, suffered severe damage on the ground floor.

The six-story Aloha Theater building on Dasmariñas Street suffered severe damage near its southern end.

Also severely damaged was the six-story Tuason building on Escolta.

Among the other buildings in Manila that suffered considerable damage were Trinity on T. M. Kalaw Street, Diamond Tower Apartments on Magdalena Street, Liwayway Hotel on Echague Street, National Library on T. M. Kalaw Street, Old Philippine National Bank, Boie on Escolta and Araneta and Tuason on Muelle del Banco Nacional Street.

Other noted buildings in Manila damaged during the quake were Development Bank of the Philippines, Phoenix, La Tondeña, Overseas Terminal, and the Far Eastern University Arts and Sciences wing.

The earthquake caused landslides and large fissures in the mountain areas of the epicentral area.

Japanese scientists recorded a tsunami. —Marielle Medina / Inquirer Research

SOURCE: PHILIPPINE INSTITUTE OF VOLCANOLOGY AND SEISMOLOGY WEBSITE