Earthquake in Philippines: At least 26 injured

• Magnitude 6.4 earthquake that shook the northern Philippines injured at least 26 people.
• Quake forced the closing of an international airport, frightened locals into the streets.
• The earthquake occurred in upland town of Dolores.

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that shook the northern Philippines injured at least 26 people, forced the closing of an international airport, frightened locals into the streets, and seriously damaged a hospital.

The earthquake, which occurred in the upland town of Dolores on Tuesday at around 10:59 p.m. (14:59 GMT), was felt in Manila, which is located more than 330 kilometers (205 miles) to the south.

In Ilocos Norte, the province of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., where the international airport in the capital city of Laoag was briefly closed on Wednesday owing to earthquake damage, police and civil aviation officials reported that at least 26 persons had been hurt.

On Wednesday, the president, also known as Bongbong, issued a tweet warning of aftershocks and advising people to avoid towering buildings.

The 200-bed Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital in Batac City, which is around 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the epicenter and received some of the greatest recorded damage to date, was evacuated of its patients.

At least two municipalities in the province of Cagayan had brief power outages as a result of broken power cables. In remote provinces, a number of bridges and highways sustained damage.

According to officials, a century-old Christian church in the Abra town of La Paz sustained damage, with portions of its belfry collapsing and some of its walls cracking, leaving debris all over the church’s green yard.

Police officer Jeffrey Blanes of Dolores Town stated that “many fled outside” as a result of the buildings trembling.

On the website of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), a resident in Aparri municipality, more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the epicenter, said that it was the largest tremor they had ever felt.

“I’ve never experienced an earthquake like that. Praise God, we are secure. Everyone should exercise caution, it said.

On the official Facebook page of the local fire department, images of several of the hospital rooms’ collapsed ceilings and numerous patients sitting in chairs outside while they awaited treatment were shared.

“We were forced to vacate the building by the authorities while they examined the structure’s integrity… We are currently evaluating the damage, said hospital employee Tom Tabije over the phone to the AFP news agency.

There have been no initial reports of casualties, but the amount of the damage won’t be known until the morning, according to the civil defense agency in the province of Abra, where Dolores is situated.

Because it is evening and we are also concerned for the safety of our people, we are unable to do a complete assessment of the impact at this moment, Abra rescuer Joel de Leon told AFP by phone.

When a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the hilly Abra province in July, it caused landslides and ground fissures, resulting in eleven fatalities and hundreds of injuries. More than 200 people were killed after an earthquake of a magnitude of 7.1 shook the central island of Bohol in October 2013.

The Philippines, which is located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region of extremely active seismic and volcanic activity extending from Japan through Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific basin, experiences earthquakes on a daily basis.

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