KORONADAL CITY — A magnitude 5 earthquake jolted parts of the southern Philippines early Saturday, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
The quake, tectonic in origin, was traced around 6:30 a.m. 103 kilometers southwest of Sarangani province.
The depth of the tremor was 21 kilometers. It was also felt in the city of General Santos but there were no reports of casualties.
The Philippines sits in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area where continental plates collide producing frequent earthquakes and volcanic activities.
The worst earthquake in Mindanao happened on Aug. 16, 1976 after a tsunami triggered by the quake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people in the Moro Gulf region in the southern Philippines.