The southern Philippines was shaken by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake on Monday, the latest in a series of powerful tremors that have impacted the seismically active nation over the past week, although no immediate casualties or significant damage were reported.
Rescue officials confirmed the absence of early reports of fatalities or structural harm from the recent quake. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) placed the epicenter near Dapa municipality in Surigao del Norte province, at a depth of approximately 69 kilometers.
Ralph Cadalena, a rescue official in Surigao del Norte, told Agence France-Presse that residents felt a sudden, brief shaking.
This latest tremor follows closely on the heels of two stronger earthquakes last week that struck the eastern part of Mindanao island. Those quakes, measuring 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude, collectively resulted in at least eight deaths.
Days prior to those events, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake devastated Cebu province in the central Philippines. Philippine authorities reported that this earlier quake killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged more than 72,000 homes.
The Philippines experiences almost daily seismic activity due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. This highly active geological arc stretches from Japan across Southeast Asia to the central Pacific Ocean.
The nation has a history of devastating quakes, including an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in 1976 off the southwest coast of Mindanao. That event generated a tsunami, killing over 8,000 people and becoming one of the most severe natural disasters in Philippine history.