By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY — A 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck Siargao Island early Thursday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
The provincial disaster risk reduction and management council there reported no damages or injuries.
In its bulletin, Phivolcs said the tremor was registered at 2:50 a.m. The epicenter was plotted 86 kilometers (km) southeast of that country’s surfing capital town of General Luna, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte province, it said.
The tremor had a depth of only 10 km, Phivolcs said.
At 6:37 a.m. also on Thursday, a 2.2 magnitude earthquake was also recorded and its epicenter was traced 26 km southeast of General Luna, with a shallow depth of only 9 km, the state agency said.
Earlier, a magnitude 2.9 tremor was recorded at 12:09 a.m. on the same day and its epicenter was located 44 km southeast of that same town and island, with a depth of only 9 km, it also said.
The three earthquakes were tectonic in origin and no tsunami alert was raised by the state agency.
All rescue teams and personnel of the disaster risk reduction and management councils (DRRMCs) are still on standby alert due to the series of tremors for almost three weeks now.
The Philippines lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where colliding plates in the Earth’s crust cause frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.