A magnitude 6.4 earthquake jolted the northern Philippines, injuring 26 people and damaging houses and public infrastructure, the DPA quoted the government agencies as saying Wednesday. The tremor struck at 10:59 p.m. (1459 GMT) on Tuesday near Lagayan town in Abra province, 348 kilometers north of Manila, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. It had an initial magnitude of 6.7, but was later downgraded to 6.4, the institute said. Power was cut in some affected provinces, while houses and buildings were damaged, according to an initial assessment. Some roads were impassable due to rockslides or cracks, the national disaster agency said. The Philippines is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where about 90% of the world's earthquakes occur. The earthquake that rocked the northern Philippines, forced the closure of an international airport, sent panicked residents into the streets and causing substantial damage to a hospital. The earthquake, which struck near the upland town of Dolores, was felt as far away as the capital Manila, more than 330km (205 miles) to the south. Police and civil aviation officials said that at least 26 people were injured in Ilocos Norte, the home province of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, where the international airport in the capital city of Laoag was ordered to close temporarily on Wednesday due to damage from the earthquake. The president warned of aftershocks on Wednesday and advised people, in a tweet, to stay out of tall structures. Patients were evacuated from the 200-bed Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital in Batac city, about 60km (37 miles) north of the epicenter, which sustained some of the worst reported damage so far. At least two towns in Cagayan province temporarily lost electricity due to damaged power lines. A number of bridges and roads in outlying provinces were damaged. In the town of La Paz in Abra, a century-old Christian church was damaged, with parts of its belfry collapsing and some walls cracked, littering the church's grassy yard with debris, officials said. Eleven people were killed, and several hundred were injured in July when a magnitude 7.0 quake hit the mountainous Abra province triggering landslides and ground fissures. In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the central island of Bohol, killing more than 200 people. One of the strongest quakes to hit the country was in July 1990, when more than 2,400 people were killed on the northern island of Luzon in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake. — Agencies
