Tsunami Alert in Philippines Lifted Hours After Undersea Quake

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(Photo: AP)

A strong undersea earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Saturday, 29 December, and the head of the country's quake-monitoring agency advised people in a southeastern province to avoid beaches in case of a tsunami.

No casualties or damage have been reported, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its warning for a potential tsunami that could hit coastal areas of the southern Philippine and Indonesia.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said that the quake was detected at a depth of 49 kilometers (30 miles) and a magnitude of 7.1 about 162 kilometers (100 miles) off Davao Oriental province. It said that it could generate aftershocks but the agency did not expect any damage.

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 60 kilometres (37 miles) and measured 6.9.

Renato Solidum, who heads the quake-monitoring institute, said that a major tsunami was unlikely given the depth of the quake and other factors but advised villagers to avoid the beach in Davao Oriental province and outlying regions for about two hours after the quake struck around noon as a precaution.

The quake was felt in some coastal areas, he said.

Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake doesn't have a potential to cause a tsunami affecting Indonesia.

The Philippines and Indonesia lie on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

The most recent major quake disaster to strike the Philippines was in 2013 when a 7.1-magnitude quake left more than 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches in the central islands.

Indonesia has been hit by two major tsunamis this year. More than 400 people were killed last weekend after an erupting volcano triggered a deadly wave that struck the coastlines of western Java island and south Sumatra.

A quake-tsunami in September killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead.

Four People Dead as Storm Rips Through Central Philippine Islands

Four people were killed in landslides and thousands of others evacuated from their homes after a storm swept through the central Philippine islands on Saturday, 29 December, officials said.

Three members of a family were buried in a landslide in Legazpi City southeast of Manila while a woman was crushed by another landslide in Bulan town as heavy rains brought by the storm loosened the earth, the government's office of civil defence said.

Almost 12,000 people were also evacuated from their homes in the Bicol region after the low pressure area, locally named "Usman", hit the eastern side of the country on Saturday, the office said.

The weather disturbance, packing maximum winds of 65 kilometres per hour, was charted as moving west across the central islands at 10 kilometres per hour and was expected to be over the South China Sea by Sunday, the government weather station said.

Although Usman's winds were not too powerful, it still brought heavy rains that caused landslides and flooding in areas it traversed, the civil defence office said.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people.

The country's deadliest storm on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.

(Published in an arrangement with AP)