Earthquake in Philippines

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the central Philippines early Thursday 16 February. A warning was issued for aftershocks and possible damage.

The earthquake was strong and shallow and struck off Masbate province in the centre of the archipelago nation shortly after 2:00 a.m. local time (1800GMT).

The epicentre was 11 kilometres (seven miles) from the nearest village of Miaga, in Uson municipality, on the province's main island of Masbate.

Shallow earthquakes tend to be more damaging than deeper ones since seismic waves from deep quakes travel further to the surface losing energy along the way. There were no reports of casualties and no tsunami warning was issued.