Moderate quake shudders Philippines, Taiwan

Manila, Mar 21: After a spate of natural calamities that brought havoc to the world with the most deadly one being the tsunami and earthquake in Japan, this time a quake struck Philippines and Taiwan on Sunday afternoon. No casualties or massive damages were reported.

An earthquake with 6.1-magnitude struck areas of northern Luzon at 4:26 pm, the impact was felt even in Manila and other northern provinces. The epicenter of the quake is believed to be 122 kilometers northeast of Laoag City and occurred in a depth of 39 km.

“It"s quite big, so we are calling and checking on islands in the north, but there are no reports of damage yet," said Ismael Narag, officer in charge of the seismology department at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has been quoted as saying.

Another quake with lesser-intensity hit Taiwan, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau at 4 pm and was centered around 45 km from Taitung county. The quake was mild at 5.9 in the Richter scale.

Philippines falls under the Pacific Ring of Fire that is considered seismically-active and are earthquake prone that covers the Pacific Ocean basin. The Ring of Fire is over 40,000 km long and touches 4 of the world"s continents as well as major island chains.

OneIndia News