Earthquakes Strike Southern Philippines, Indonesia; No Casualties Reported

Eight earthquakes struck the Moro Gulf off Mindanao island in the southern Philippines today and one rocked the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Three of the eight quakes in the Moro Gulf measured more than magnitude seven, the USGS reported on its website. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and tsunami warnings weren’t issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The first quake that hit at 6:08 a.m. Philippines time had a magnitude of 7.3 and was centered 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Cotabato, Mindanao, according to the U.S. website. The latest temblor, with a magnitude of 6.2, struck 135 kilometers south-southwest of Cotabato at 1:35 p.m. local time, the USGS said.

Indonesia and the Philippines lie along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide and about 80 percent of the world’s largest temblors occur.

The magnitude-5.4 Indonesian quake occurred 38.1 kilometers deep and was felt in the central business district of neighboring Singapore. The Philippine temblors were at depths of as much as 617 kilometers, according to the USGS.

Residents of Mindanao were awakened by the quakes, the Philippines’ Inquirer.net reported. Officials are determining whether there were casualties or damages, it said, citing Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Indonesia’s last earthquake hit on May 23 with a magnitude of 4.9, the USGS said on its website. The last one in the Philippines was a magnitude-4.7 temblor that struck the northern Luzon region on May 22, the agency added.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patricia Lui in Singapore at plui4@bloomberg.net; Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net

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