Strong earthquake in central Philippines damages building and sends people out of their homeshttps://srnnews.com/strong-earthquake-in-central-philippines-sends-people-out-of-homes-and-sparks-local-tsunami-warning/MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong offshore earthquake of magnitude 6.9 shook the central Philippines late Tuesday, injuring several villagers, damaging stone and concrete buildings and sending people scrambling out of their homes, officials said.
The earthquake was centered about 17 kilometers (10 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people, where the intense shaking damaged concrete walls of houses and a fire station, knocked out power in the city and caused deep cracks on asphalt roads, firefighter Rey Cañete said.
“We were in our barracks to retire for the day when the ground started to shake and we rushed out but stumbled to the ground because of the intense shaking,” Cañete told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that he and three other firemen sustained cuts and bruises.
A concrete wall in their fire station collapsed, Cañete said. He and fellow firefighters provided first-aid to at least three residents, who were injured by falling debris and collapsed walls, including an elderly man with head injuries who they took to a nearby hospital, he said and added that more residents may have likely been injured due to the intense shaking.
This was in northern Cebu Island, and almost 10X the strength of the Indonesian earthquake. A 6.0 is nothing to sneeze at, but it appears that building standards in the Philippines are more earthquake-conscious than those of Indonesia.
