MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AP) – A strong earthquake rocked northern Philippines, injuring at least 26 people and forcing the closure of an international airport and the evacuation of patients in a hospital, officials said yesterday.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the Tuesday night’s magnitude 6.4 quake, which was set off by movement in a local fault, was centred nine kilometres (km) northwest of Lagayan town in Abra province at a depth of 11km.
The United States (US) Tsunami Warning System said no warning or advisory was issued.
The quake was felt across a wide area of the main northern Luzon region, including in some parts of metropolitan Manila, more than 40km south of Abra.
At least 26 people were injured in Ilocos Norte, the home province of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, where the international airport in the capital city of Laoag was ordered to close temporarily yesterday due to damage from the quake, police and civil aviation officials said.
In Batac city also in Ilocos Norte, patients were moved out of the province’s largest hospital after parts of the ceiling in the intensive care unit fell as the building swayed. Medical consultation services were temporarily suspended as engineers assessed damage to the building, officials said.
Marcos Jr, who was in Manila, said authorities were inspecting roads and buildings, and welfare officials were providing help to affected residents in northern provinces. “Everyone is advised to keep out of tall structures,” the president said in a tweet.
In the town of La Paz in Abra, a century-old synagogue was damaged, with parts of its belfry collapsing and some walls cracked, littering the building’s grassy yard with debris, officials said.
