Great
Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Strong 6.0 Earthquake hits Philippine island of Dalupiri
11 August 2011
BY: BNO News
DALUPIRI ISLAND, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake
struck the Philippine island of Dalupiri on late Thursday morning,
seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage
or casualties.
The 6.0-magnitude earthquake at 10.56 a.m. local time (0256 GMT)
was centered less than a kilometer (mile) from the western coast
of Dalupiri Island, which is part of the Babuyan Islands in the
Luzon Strait north of Luzon island in the Philippines. It struck
about 113 kilometers (70 miles) deep, making it an earthquake of
intermediate depth, according to the Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the
area, which is mostly uninhabited. The United States Geological
Survey (USGS) measured the earthquake at only 5.4 on the Richter
scale but at a much shallower depth of just 20 kilometers (12
miles).
The Philippines is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc
of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to
frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur
frequently in the region.
In July 1990, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the
densely populated island of Luzon, killing at least 2,412 people
and injuring thousands more. It was one of the most deadliest
earthquakes in the Philippines in recent history.
Only more deadly was an enormous 8.1-magnitude earthquake in
August 1976 which shook Mindanao island and had its epicenter in
the Moro Gulf. It caused a destructive tsunami in the Celebes Sea,
causing devastation in settlements along the coast of the Moro
Gulf on Mindanao island and on the nearby Sulu Islands.
The 1976 earthquake was felt on all of the central islands of the
Philippines Archipelago and in the southern part of Luzon. As a
result of the earthquake and tsunami, more than 8,000 people were
killed or left missing, 10,000 were injured, and 90,000 were left
homeless.