Largest | Mw 8.3 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake |
---|---|
Deadliest | Mw 8.0 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake 5,000–8,000 killed |
The Philippines lies within the zone of complex interaction between several tectonic plates, involving multiple subduction zones and one large zone of strike-slip, all of which are associated with major earthquakes. Many intraplate earthquakes of smaller magnitude also occur very regularly due to the interaction between the major tectonic plates in the region. The largest historical earthquake in the Philippines was the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake with Mw 8.3.
Much of the Philippines lie within the area of strongly tectonised blocks of mainly island arc origin, known as the Philippine Mobile Belt. To the east, Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the mobile belt along the line of the Philippine Trench and the East Luzon Trench at the northern end of the belt. The convergence across this boundary is strongly oblique and the strike-slip component is accommodated by movement on the left lateral Philippine fault system. To the south of the Philippines lies the Molucca Sea Collision Zone, which involves opposite facing subduction zones to either side of the Molucca Sea plate. To the west of the mobile belt the Sunda plate is subducting eastwards beneath the belt along the lines of the Manila, Negros and Cotabato trenches. Within the Sunda plate, the oceanic crust of the Sulu Sea is subducting beneath the Sulu Ridge along the Sulu Trench. [1] The Sunda plate carries with it parts of the Palawan Microcontinental Block, which has collided with the mobile belt at the Negros and Cotabato trenches. [2]
The continuing movement of the tectonic plates leads to active faulting within the mobile belt, such as on the left lateral Cotabato Fault System that cuts across Mindanao and the right lateral Marikina Valley fault system on Luzon.
The subduction zones that surround most of the archipelago are the source of many of the larger earthquakes that strike the Philippines. This includes both faulting along the plate interfaces and within the subducting slabs. For the Philippine Trench, examples of those on the plate interface are the 1988 Mw 7.3 and the 2023 M7.6 events. The 1975 Mw 7.6 earthquake was caused by intra-slab normal faulting, while the 2012 M7.6 was a result of thrust faulting within the descending slab. [3]
The relatively young Cotabato Trench subduction zone has been associated with several large megathrust earthquakes, including the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake (M8.3), the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake (M8.0) and the 2002 Mindanao earthquake (M7.5). [4] [5]
The longest and most seismically active of the strike-slip structures is the 1200 km long Philippine Fault Zone. [6] It carries the left lateral component of the oblique convergence at the Philippine Trench, with a current estimated slip-rate of 35 ± 4 mm per year on Leyte, reducing northwards to about 20 mm per year on Luzon. On Luzon, the fault zone splays out into a number of different faults, including the Digdig Fault. One of the largest historical earthquake on the fault zone was the 1990 Luzon Ms 7.8 event that left nearly 2,000 people dead or missing. The same part of the fault zone is thought to have ruptured in the 1645 Luzon earthquake. [7] Further south the fault ruptured during the 1973 Ragay Gulf earthquake.
In central Mindanao, the Cotabato fault system consists of a mixture of NW-SE trending left lateral and SW-NE trending right lateral strike-slip faults. Four of these ruptured in the 2019 Cotabato and Davao del Sur earthquakes, each generating events with magnitudes of 6.4 or greater. [8]
Given the presence of major fault zones throughout the archipelago, any part of the Philippines may be affected by earthquakes, apart from parts of Palawan, where the seismic hazard risk is comparatively low. The greatest shaking hazard comes from shallow crustal faulting close to the Manila, Davao and Cebu metropolitan areas. Active reverse faults have >20 km wide zones of peak ground acceleration (PGA) >0.6g (acceleration due to gravity) for a 10% probability of exceedance (PoE) in a 50-year period, while active strike-slip faults have narrower zones centered around the fault traces at a similar level. All areas close to active subduction zones show increased hazard. [9]
In Metro Manila the estimated hazard has a mean PGA of 0.32 g for a PoE of 10% in 50 years. The main hazard comes from shallow fault sources, such as the Marikina Valley Fault System, but there is an important contribution to the overall hazard from the Manila subduction zone to the west and the potential for strong shaking from earthquakes originating the Philippines Trench to the east. In Metro Cebu, the mean PGA is also 0.32 g for the same PoE and period. The hazard is dominated by shallow crustal fault zones from this area of ongoing compressional tectonics. Using the same parameters Metro Davao has the higher value of 0.45 g. The metropolitan area sits close to shallow faults of left lateral strike-slip and oblique reverse type, and these generate the greatest hazard, although a significant contribution comes from sources in the Halmahera and Philippine subduction zones. [9]
Date | Time‡ | Place | Magnitude | Intensity | Casualties | Notes | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1601 January 16 | 16:00 | Manila | Several | Earthquake duration lasted about 7 minutes. Aftershocks experienced the whole year. | [10] [11] | ||
1645 November 30 | 20:00 | Luzon | 7.5 | X | 600 dead, 3,000 injured | Dubbed as the "most terrible earthquake" in the annals of the Philippines. Greatly damaged ten newly constructed cathedrals in Manila, residential villas and buildings in the city and nearby provinces. Provinces in the north reported several alteration of the ground, disappearances of small villages, changes in the river course, sand eruptions, etc. Small tsunamis were reported in southern Luzon. | [11] |
1645 December 5 | 23:00 | Luzon | VIII | Major aftershock of the November 30, 1645 Luzon earthquake that further destroyed remaining buildings in Manila and nearby towns. Aftershocks ceased around March 1646. | [10] [11] | ||
1665 June 19 | Manila | VIII | 19 | Only the Jesuit Church experienced great damage. | [11] | ||
1743 January 12 | 08:00 | Luzon: Tayabas, Laguna | X | 5 deaths | [10] [11] | ||
1787 July 13 | 07:00 | Panay: Iloilo, Antique, Buenavista | X | Many | 15 deaths in one building | [10] [11] | |
1840 March 22 | Sorsogon, Masbate Island, Casiguran, Albay | 6.5 | IX | 17 | 200 injured | [10] [11] | |
1852 September 16 | 18:45 | Luzon: Batnam, Rizal, Pampangan, Manila | IX | 3 | [10] [11] | ||
1863 June 3 | 19:20 | Manila, Balangan, Rizal | X | 400 | 1863 Manila earthquake | [10] [11] | |
1879 July 1 | 00:50 | NW Mindanao, Surigao | X | 1879 Surigao earthquake | [10] [11] | ||
1880 July 14–24 [12] | 04:40 | Luzon | X | Caused severe damage to these major cities in Luzon: Manila (Buildings collapsed) | [10] [11] | ||
1892 March 16 | 20:58 | Luzon: Abra, Pangasinan, La Union | X | 2 | [10] [11] | ||
1897 September 21 | 13:15 | NW Mindanao, Dapitan | 8.7 | IX | 13–100+ (second event) | 1897 Mindanao earthquakes A pair of large earthquakes off Mindanao | [10] [11] |
Date | Time‡ | Place | Magnitude | Intensity | Casualties | Notes | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1907 April 18 | 05:00 | SE Luzon, Camarines | 7.6 | IX | 2 dead | [10] | |
1911 July 12 | Mindanao: Talacogon, Davao, Butuan | 7.8 | X | Caused seiches in lakes and the Agusan River. Many homes damaged in Talacogon and Butuan | [10] | ||
1918 August 15 | 20:18 | Cotabato | 8.3 | X | 46 dead | 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake | [10] |
1924 April 15 | 00:20 | E. Mindanao | 8.3 | IX | [10] | ||
1925 May 5 | 18:07 | W. Luzon | 6.8 | IX | 17 dead | [10] | |
1928 December 19 | 19:37 | Cotabato | 7.3 | VII | 93 dead | [10] | |
1937 August 20 | Luzon | 7.5 | VIII | 1 dead, 200 injured | [10] | ||
1948 January 25 | 01:46 | Panay, Iloilo City, Antique | 7.8 | X | 72 dead | 1948 Lady Caycay earthquake | [10] |
1954 July 2 | 10:45 | Sorsogon, Bacon, Legaspi | 6.8 | IX | 13 dead, 101 injured | [10] | |
1955 April 1 | 02:17 | Lanao, Ozamiz, Cotabato | 7.6 | VIII | 400 dead | 1955 Lanao earthquake | [10] [13] |
1968 August 2 | 04:19 | Luzon, Manila | 7.3 | IX | 270 dead, 261 injured | 1968 Casiguran earthquake | [10] [14] |
1970 April 7 | 13:34 | Luzon | 7.3 | VI | 15 dead, 200 injured | [10] | |
1973 March 17 | 16:30 | Ragay Gulf | 7.5 | IX | 15 dead, ~100 injured | 1973 Ragay Gulf earthquake | [14] [15] |
1976 August 17 | 00:11 | Moro Gulf | 8.0 | VIII | 8,000 dead, 10,000 injured | 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake | [10] [14] |
1983 August 17 | 20:17 | Luzon | 6.5 | VIII | 16 dead, 47 injured | 1983 Luzon earthquake | [10] [14] |
1985 April 24 | Luzon: Benguet, Baguio | 6.1 | VII | 6 dead, 11 injured | [10] | ||
1988 June 19 | 04:19 | Mindoro: San Jose, Calapan | 6.2 | VII | 2 dead, 2 injured | 1988 Mindoro earthquake | [10] [16] |
1990 February 8 | 15:15 | Bohol | 6.8 | VII | 6 dead, >200 injured | 1990 Bohol Sea earthquake | [17] |
1990 June 14 | 15:41 | Panay | 7.1 | VIII | 8 dead, 41 injured | 1990 Panay earthquake | [14] |
1990 July 16 | 16:26 | Luzon | 7.8 | IX | 2,412 dead, 3,000 injured | 1990 Luzon earthquake | [10] [14] |
1994 November 14 | 03:15 | Mindoro | 7.1 | VII | 81 dead, 225 injured | 1994 Mindoro earthquake | [10] [14] |
1999 December 12 | 02:03 | Zambales | 7.3 | VIII | 6 dead, 40 injured | 1999 Luzon earthquake | [10] [18] |
Date | Time‡ | Place | Magnitude | Intensity | Casualties | Notes | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001 January 1 | 14:57 | Mindanao | 7.5 | VII | [10] | ||
2002 March 6 | 05:16 | Mindanao | 7.5 | IX | 15 dead, 100+ injured | 2002 Mindanao earthquake | [10] |
2003 November 19 | 01:14 | Samar | 6.5 | VII | 1 dead, 21 injured | [10] | |
2010 July 24 | Mindanao | 7.3, 7.6, 7.5 | III | 2010 Mindanao earthquakes triplet earthquake, deep focus events | [19] | ||
2012 February 6 | 11:49 | Negros | 6.7 | VII | 113 dead, 112 injured | 2012 Negros earthquake | [20] |
2012 August 31 | 20:47 | Samar | 7.6 | VII | 1 dead, 1 injured | 2012 Samar earthquake | [21] |
2013 October 15 | 08:12 | Bohol | 7.2 | IX | 222 dead, 976 injured | 2013 Bohol earthquake | [22] |
2017 February 10 | 22:03 | Surigao | 6.5 | VIII | 8 dead, 200 injured | 2017 Surigao earthquake | [23] |
2017 July 6 | 16:03 | Leyte | 6.5 | VIII | 4 dead, 100+ injured | 2017 Leyte earthquake | [24] |
2019 April 22 | 17:11 | Luzon | 6.1 | VII | 18 dead, 256 injured | 2019 Luzon earthquake | [25] |
2019 April 23 | 13:37 | Eastern Samar | 6.5 | VI | 48 injured | 2019 Eastern Samar earthquake | [26] |
2019 July 9 | 20:36 | Cotabato | 5.6 | VI | 1 dead, 73 injured | July 2019 Cotabato earthquake | [27] |
2019 July 27 | 07:37 | Batanes | 6.0 | VI | 9 dead, 60 injured | 2019 Batanes earthquake | [28] |
2019 October 16 | 19:37 | Cotabato | 6.4 | VIII | 7 dead, 215 injured | 2019 Cotabato earthquakes | [29] [30] |
2019 October 29 | 09:04 | Cotabato | 6.6 | VIII | 24 dead, 563 injured | ||
2019 October 31 | 09:11 | Cotabato | 6.5 | VIII | |||
2019 December 15 | 14:11 | Davao del Sur | 6.8 | VII | 13 dead, 210 injured | 2019 Davao del Sur earthquake | [31] |
2020 August 18 | 08:03 | Masbate | 6.6 | VIII | 2 dead, 170 injured | 2020 Masbate earthquake | [32] |
2021 August 12 | 01:46 | Davao Oriental | 7.1 | VII | 1 dead | 2021 Davao Oriental earthquake | [33] |
2022 July 27 | 08:43 | Luzon | 7.0 | VIII | 11 dead, 615 injured | 2022 Luzon earthquake | [34] |
2023 November 17 | 16:14 | Mindanao | 6.7 | VIII | 11 dead, 730 injured | November 2023 Mindanao earthquake | [35] |
2023 December 2 | 22:37 | Mindanao | 7.6 | VII | 3 dead, 79 injured | December 2023 Mindanao earthquake | [36] |
Ten deadliest recorded earthquakes in the Philippines since the 1600s | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Magnitude | Location | Date | Deaths | Missing | Injured | Damage | Source | ||
1 | 8.0 | Moro Gulf | August 16, 1976 | 4,791 | 2,288 | 9,928 | |||
2 | 7.8 | Luzon Island | July 16, 1990 | 1,621 | 1,000 | >3,000 | ₱ 10 billion | ||
3 | Unknown | Manila | June 3, 1863 | 1,000 | [11] | ||||
4 | 7.5 | Luzon Island | November 30, 1645 | >600 | >3,000 | Unknown | |||
5 | 8.1 | Mati, Davao Oriental | April 14, 1924 | ~500 | [37] [38] | ||||
6 | 7.4 | Lanao del Sur | April 1, 1955 | >400 | Unknown | US$5 million | [39] | ||
7 | 7.6 | Casiguran, Aurora | August 2, 1968 | 271 | 261 | ||||
8 | 7.2 | Bohol and Cebu | October 15, 2013 | 222 | 8 | 796 | ₱ 4 billion (est.) | [40] | |
9 | 6.7 | Negros Oriental | February 6, 2012 | 113 | 112 | ₱ 383 million | |||
10 | 7.1 | Mindoro | November 15, 1994 | 78 | 430 | ₱ 5.15 million | [41] |
The Manila Trench is an oceanic trench in the Pacific Ocean, located west of the islands of Luzon and Mindoro in the Philippines. The trench reaches a depth of about 5,400 metres (17,700 ft), in contrast with the average depth of the South China Sea of about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It is created by subduction, in which the Sunda Plate is subducting under the Philippine Mobile Belt, producing this almost N-S trending trench. The convergent boundary is terminated to the north by the Taiwan collision zone, and to the south by the Mindoro terrane. It is an area pervaded by negative gravity anomalies.
The Philippine Trench is a submarine trench to the east of the Philippines. The trench is located in the Philippine sea of the western North Pacific Ocean and continues NNW-SSE. It has a length of approximately 1,320 kilometres and a width of about 30 km (19 mi) from the center of the Philippine island of Luzon trending southeast to the northern Maluku island of Halmahera in Indonesia. At its deepest point, the trench reaches 10,540 meters.
The 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and tsunami occurred on August 17, 1976, at 00:11 local time near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu, in the Philippines. It measured 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale occurring at a depth of 20 km (12 mi). The earthquake was accompanied by a destructive tsunami that resulted in a majority of the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 fatalities. It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake in the Philippines in 58 years since the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake.
In the geology of the Philippines, the Philippine Mobile Belt is a complex portion of the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Philippine Sea plate, comprising most of the country of the Philippines. It includes two subduction zones, the Manila Trench to the west and the Philippine Trench to the east, as well as the Philippine fault system. Within the Belt, a number of crustal blocks or microplates which have been shorn off the adjoining major plates are undergoing massive deformation.
The Philippine fault system is a major inter-related system of geological faults throughout the whole of the Philippine Archipelago, primarily caused by tectonic forces compressing the Philippines into what geophysicists call the Philippine Mobile Belt. Some notable Philippine faults include the Guinayangan, Masbate and Leyte faults.
The 2002 Mindanao earthquake struck the Philippines at 05:16 Philippine Standard Time on March 6. The world's sixth most powerful earthquake of the year, it registered a magnitude of 7.5 and was a megathrust earthquake. It originated near the Cotabato Trench, a zone of deformation situated between the Philippine Sea plate and the Sunda plate, and occurred very near to the Philippines' strongest earthquake for the 20th century, the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake.
An earthquake off the coast of Samar occurred on August 31, 2012, at 20:47 local time in the Philippines. The populated islands of Visayas were struck by an earthquake of magnitude Mw 7.6. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 45 km. A tsunami warning was announced within the Pacific area and was lifted after two hours. The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.
The 2017 Surigao earthquake occurred on February 10, 2017, at 10:03 PM (PST), with a surface-wave magnitude of 6.7 off the coast of Surigao del Norte in the Philippines. According to the PHIVOLCS earthquake intensity scale the earthquake was an Intensity VII (Destructive) earthquake at maximum. In the past Surigao province has been hit by a magnitude 7.2 tremor in both 1879 and 1893.
The 2019 Eastern Samar Earthquake struck the islands of Visayas in the Philippines on April 23, 2019, at 1:37:51 p.m. (PST). It had a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a local magnitude of 6.2 with a max intensity of VI based on the PHIVOLCS earthquake intensity scale (PEIS). The epicenter was in San Julian, Eastern Samar and the hypocenter was at a depth of 64 km(~39.76 mi). As of April 30, 2019 there were 172 aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 1.6 to 4.6. The earthquake injured 48 people and damaged about 245 homes.
The subduction tectonics of the Philippines is the control of geology over the Philippine archipelago. The Philippine region is seismically active and has been progressively constructed by plates converging towards each other in multiple directions. The region is also known as the Philippine Mobile Belt due to its complex tectonic setting.
The 2019 Cotabato earthquakes were an earthquake swarm which struck the province of Cotabato on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines in October 2019. Three of these earthquakes were above 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale with a Mercalli intensity of VIII. More than 40 people have been reported dead or missing and nearly 800 were injured as a result of these events.
At 14:11 PST on December 15, 2019, the province of Davao del Sur on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines was struck by an earthquake measuring 6.8 Mww. It had a maximum perceived intensity of VII on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. At least 13 people were killed and another 210 injured.
On 9 July 2019, at 8:36 PM (PST), an earthquake measuring Mw 5.6 jolted the province of North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and other nearby provinces. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported one dead and three injured in Makilala after the earthquake, and a total of 164 families affected in Cotabato Province. Near the epicenter of the earthquake, the severity of strong ground motion was assigned VI (Strong) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. A total of 106 schools, 119 houses, and 14 other infrastructures were damaged by the earthquake.
On February 7, 2021, at 12:22 PM PST, an earthquake measuring Mww 6.0 struck Davao del Sur and Cotabato. The event registered a Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) of VIII (Severe) with VII on the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS).
On August 12, 2021, at 01:46:12 PST, a strong Mw 7.1 earthquake struck the island of Mindanao at a depth of 55.1 kilometers (34.2 mi). It had a maximum perceived Intensity V on the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale. No damage or injuries were reported but a young man was killed by the earthquake.
The 1879 Surigao earthquake occurred on June 30 at 18:38 02:55 local time on the northeastern tip of Mindanao. The earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw ) of 7.4 struck with an epicenter just south of Lake Mainit. Extensive damage occurred but there were no reports of casualties.
The 1955 Lanao earthquake struck Lanao del Sur on April 1 at 02:17 local time. The earthquake measuring 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale and assigned a maximum intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale was one of the largest to hit Mindanao. It caused immense damage around the northern and central parts of Mindanao, as well as the southern reaches of Visayas. It killed at least 465 individuals and injured a further 898.
On July 27, 2022, at 8:43:24 a.m. (PHT), an earthquake struck the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0 Mw , with an epicenter in Abra province. Eleven people were reported dead and 615 were injured. At least 35,798 homes, schools and other buildings were damaged or destroyed, resulting in ₱1.88 billion (US$34 million) worth of damage.
At 16:14 PST on November 17, 2023, the province of Sarangani on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines was struck by an earthquake measuring 6.7 Mww. It had a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. At least eleven people were killed and another 730 were treated for injuries.
On December 2, 2023, at 22:37 PST, a moment magnitude (Mww ) 7.6 earthquake occurred off the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The shallow subduction earthquake killed at least three people and left 79 injured.
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