An earthquake measuring 6.4 magnitude on the open Richter scale has shaken the northern Philippines on Tuesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has reported.
The tremor was recorded at 22.59 hours (local time, 16.59 Spanish peninsular time) on Tuesday seven kilometers northeast of the town of Lagayan, in the province of Abr, and at a depth of 15 kilometers.
Although no fatalities have been reported, at least 26 people have been injured. In addition, the earthquake caused considerable damage to a hospital, which is why 200 patients were evacuated, local authorities told ‘Philstar’.
The Philippines is located in the Pacific «Ring of Fire», where about 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The last major earthquake to hit the country was 7.1 magnitude and killed more than 220 people in the central Philippines in October 2013.
In July 1990, more than 2,400 people were killed on the northern island of Luzon by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest to hit the country.
