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A powerful earthquake shook the Philippine island of Luzon, in the north of the country, on Wednesday, July 27, leaving at least four people dead and dozens injured. Strong telluric movements were also felt in Manila, the capital, where material damage and landslides were recorded.
The powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.1, with an epicenter in the province of Abra, on the Philippine island of Luzon, managed to shake distant areas such as Manila, the country’s capital.
At least four deaths have been confirmed by authorities. Two people died in the province of Benguet, one in Abra and another in another province, Interior Secretary Benjamín Abalos said at a press conference.
The victims include a villager who was killed when parts of his house collapsed and a man who worked on a small building under construction. In addition, dozens of residents were injured.
“It was the most powerful earthquake I have ever felt and I thought the ground would open (…) The ground shook as if I was on a swing and the lights suddenly went out. We ran out of the office and I heard screaming and some of my colleagues were crying,” described Michael Brillantes, a security officer from the Abra town of Lagangilang, near the epicenter.
The earthquake generated aftershocks and landslides in several locations. Authorities also cut off electricity service in some affected areas as a security measure.
“We are still experiencing aftershocks,” Rovelyn Villamor, mayor of Abra de Lagangilang, an area to which the Presidency sent rescue teams, later assured local radio.
Evacuations in areas far from the epicenter
In several towns and cities in the country, citizens also felt the tremors and the authorities evacuated high-rise buildings.
“This is a major earthquake. We expect strong aftershocks,” said Renato Solidum, director of the state seismology agency.
Eric Singson, a congressman from Ilocos Sur province, said the earthquake also hit that area with great force. “The earthquake lasted 30 seconds or more. I thought my house would fall (…) Now we are trying to reach people. Right now there are aftershocks, so we are out of our house,” he explained.
A strong earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in the northern Philippines on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens. pic.twitter.com/Eh3apDVNqC
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 27, 2022
Meanwhile, in Manila, the city’s metro rail systems were halted and major buildings, including the Senate, were evacuated.
Also in the capital, patients were evacuated from a hospital and dozens of people ran outside in terror.
The director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Renato Solidum, described it as “a big earthquake.”
The Philippines, located on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of faults along the Pacific Ocean, suffers most of the world’s earthquakes.
With AP and Reuters
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