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Manila skyline (2019 photo)
Photo: ELOISA LOPEZ/ REUTERS
Strong earthquakes hit the Philippines and Indonesia early Monday morning (local time).
Both countries lie on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world.
A tsunami warning was not issued.
According to the dpa news agency, the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology initially registered an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 in the north-west of the Philippines.
The center was therefore only 11 kilometers deep 67 kilometers west of the small island of Cabra.
According to the information, it was also clearly felt in the capital region around Manila on the island of Luzon and on the island of Mindoro to the south.
More than 40 aftershocks followed.
Nothing was initially known about damage or injuries.
Second deep quake off Sumatra
A few minutes later, a violent tremor shook western Indonesia, which the US earthquake monitor USGS indicated with a magnitude of 6.7.
Accordingly, the center was almost 170 kilometers west of the coastal town of Pariaman in West Sumatra, at a depth of almost 22 kilometers below the Mentawai Islands.
The small chain of islands on the southwest coast of Sumatra lies directly in the area where the Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
According to official information, there were initially no reports of damage.
However, the Reuters news agency reported that communication with some remote regions was sometimes difficult, so that the picture of the situation was not yet complete.
At least 6 people died and dozens were injured in a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in the region at the end of February.
The central Philippines was last hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2013.
At that time, 220 people died in the Southeast Asian country.
fek/dpa/Reuters