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The earthquake struck the mountainous and sparsely populated province of Abra in Luzon, the country’s main and most populous island, causing minor landslides and the collapse of several houses.
The earthquake was measured with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 by the US Geological Survey (USGS), 7.2 by the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) and 7.3 by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Phivolcs later revised the magnitude to 7.0, but this was the strongest earthquake to hit the Philippines in years.
The dead included a man who was hit by falling cement slabs at his home in Abra, where at least 25 others were injured.
Photos shared on social media by local officials and residents showed several completely collapsed buildings with broken windows.
Several cars were crushed by falling walls and roads were destroyed by the strong earthquake.
“The earthquake lasted 30 seconds or more. I thought the house was going to fall on me”a witness said according to Al Jazeera.
Services on the city’s metro rail systems were temporarily suspended after the earthquake, while many high-rise office buildings and residential towers were evacuated.
The Philippines is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000-km (25,000-mile) arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the island of Bohol in the central Philippines, killing more than 200 people and triggering a number of landslides.
Nearly 400,000 people were forced from their homes as a result of the disaster.
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