An earthquake of preliminary magnitude 7.6 recorded this Saturday in the eastern Philippines has shaken the island of Mindanao, generating a tsunami alert for a potential reach in much of the Pacific region, including Malaysia and Indonesia. The alert was finally deactivated less than two hours later, a period in which an aftershock of magnitude 6.4 was detected.
The shaking has been so strong that it has led the Japan Meteorological Agency to activate the tsunami warning for the regions of Miyakojima and Yaeyama and the Chiba Perfecture, all in the southeast of Japan and bathed by the Pacific Ocean.
The Philippine Institute of Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has advised residents of the provinces of Surigao Del Sur and Davao Oriental, both located on the eastern coast of Mindanao, to immediately evacuate the coast to seek refuge in higher areas inland.
"According to the local database, a destructive tsunami is expected, with waves of a height that poses a danger to life," the Philippine agency had warned at around 4:30 p.m. Spanish time. A couple of hours later the alert was deactivated.
The United States Geological Survey, which records seismic activity around the world, located the hypocenter at a depth of 32 kilometers and about 21.2 kilometers southeast of the town of Hinatuan, with more than 40,000 residents.
The Philippines sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity in which about 7,000 earthquakes are recorded every year, most of them moderate.
