2023-12-03 05:44:59
The first information is worrying. Philippine authorities warned on Saturday of a “destructive tsunami” and called on the population to move inland, after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the island of Mindanao, in the south of the archipelago. .
“A destructive tsunami is expected with wave heights posing a threat to lives,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on X.
A powerful earthquake, at least one aftershock
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 32 km at 10:37 p.m. local time (3:37 p.m. in France) at a distance of approximately 21 km northeast of Hinatuan, said the USGS, the Institute for Geological Studies of UNITED STATES. A powerful aftershock of magnitude 6.4 was recorded a few hours later.
Earthquakes occur daily in the Philippines, as the archipelago is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan to the Pacific Basin through Asia from the South-East. Most are too faint to be felt by humans.
A 6.7 magnitude earthquake already struck the Mindanao island region on November 17, killing at least nine people.
An alert to evacuate due to the tsunami risk
“A destructive tsunami is expected with wave heights posing a threat to lives,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on X (formerly Twitter).
He advised residents of Surigao South and Davao Oriental provinces to “immediately evacuate” further inland or to higher terrain. No casualties or damage were immediately reported, but according to police officer Joseph Lamba in Hinatuan, the earthquake was “very strong”.
“People are evacuating because of the tsunami warning,” he said, adding that 45,000 residents had been ordered to leave their homes and many of them were trying to reach higher ground. , on foot or by car.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said tsunami waves could hit the Philippines around midnight local time (5 p.m. in France) and could continue for hours.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that given the scale and location of the epicenter, it expects tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of the Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.
Japanese broadcaster NHK said tsunami waves up to one meter high were expected to reach Japan’s west coast later, around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Boat owners in ports, estuaries or shallow coastal waters off the two provinces should secure their boats and move away from the waterfront, the earthquake agency said in its tsunami warning. Boats already at sea are expected to remain offshore in deep waters until further notice.
#Earthquake #destructive #tsunami #warning #situation #Philippines