Moderate quake hits S. Mindanao

DAVAO CITY — A moderate earthquake registering 5.3 in the Richter scale rocked Davao City and the rest of Southern Mindanao at about 11:56 p.m. Tuesday night.

Residents were jolted from their sleep as the tremor lasted almost a minute, sending many to the streets in panic.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the epicenter of the earthquake was in the Philippine Sea off the municipality of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur on Mindanao’s eastern coast.

Carmelito Lupo, Region 11 chief of the Office of Civil Defense, said there were no reports of damage or casualties.

The earthquake was felt in the provinces of Surigao, Agusan, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, and Compostela Valley.

Quakes of this magnitude are relatively common in the country, which sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire," but usually cause only minor damage.

The last major earthquake to hit the Philippines was in 1990, destroying large parts of Baguio City and killing about 2,000 people. The quake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. — With Helen Flores and AFP