Magnitude 5.7 quake shakes Philippine capital

Buildings shake for as long as 10 seconds, some say, while videos are shared showing the effects of the tremor.

Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Photo: iStock

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook the Philippine capital Manila on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, sending people rushing out of buildings and briefly halting train services in the city.

The strong quake struck off the country’s main island of Luzon at 4:23 pm (0823 GMT) at a depth of 77 kilometres (48 miles), about 94 kilometres southwest of Manila, the USGS said.

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Videos shared on social media showed commuters sitting squashed together on a train platform and people in the Senate exiting the building after the tremor stopped.

Patrolman Mark Dacayanan said his police station on Lubang island, less than 50 kilometres southwest of the epicentre, shook for about 10 seconds.

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“The police officers went outside, we didn’t know if the shaking would become stronger,” Dacayanan told AFP.

“So far there are no damages or casualties.”

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It comes after a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks off the country’s southern island of Mindanao following a magnitude 7.6 quake late Saturday that briefly triggered a tsunami warning.

At least three people were killed and 17 were injured after the quake hit, with thousands still in evacuation centres.

Earthquakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans.

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