A violent earthquake of magnitude 7 hit the northern Philippines on Wednesday July 27, killing at least one person, sowing panic among the inhabitants and shaking buildings as far as the capital Manila, 300 km away.
According to the American Seismological Institute (USGS), the quake was recorded at 08:43 local time (00:43 GMT), at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km in the mountainous province of Abra, on the main island of Luzon.
The USGS revised the magnitude to 7, down from 7.1 previously.
A 25-year-old worker died when the three-storey building he was working on collapsed in La Trinidad, capital of Benguet province, police said.
The seven other workers on the same site are unharmed.
In the town of Dolores, located very close to the epicenter, terrified residents ran from their homes and the windows of the local market were shattered, local police commander Edwin Sergio told AFP.
"
The earthquake was very strong
," Mr. Sergio said.
The fruit and vegetable tables in the market were overturned
,” he continued, adding that cracks had appeared on the walls of the police station.
Another police commander, Nazareno Emia, told AFP that several injured people had been taken to hospital.
“
Some buildings have cracks.
Electricity and internet are cut
,” said Nazareno Emia.
Read alsoA 6.4 magnitude earthquake shakes the main island of the Philippines
MP Ching Bernos, who represents Lone District in Abra, said the quake had "
damaged many homes and businesses
", without elaborating.
A video posted on Facebook and verified by AFP also showed cracks in an asphalt road and the ground in the town of Bangued, but no visible damage to shops or houses.
In Vigan City, in the neighboring province of Ilocos Sur, buildings dating from the Spanish colonial period (1565-1898) were damaged.
Videos posted on Facebook and verified showed in particular damage to the historic bell tower of Bantay, a famous tourist attraction.
Felt 300 km away
Mira Zapata, a student, said he was at his house in the city of San Juan when he felt "
a very strong jolt
".
“
We started screaming and ran outside
,” he said, as the aftershocks continued.
“
Our house is in good condition but those down the hill were damaged
,” continued this witness.
Landslides have been reported in parts of the affected region, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Mark Timbal said.
He added that no damage had been reported on the dams and that clearing operations were underway on the roads.
Skyscrapers shook as far as the capital Manila, located more than 300 km to the south.
Read alsoA 5.7 magnitude earthquake shakes the main island of the Philippines
The Philippines is regularly hit by earthquakes due to its position on the "
Ring of Fire
", an arc of intense seismic activity that circles the Pacific Ocean through Japan and Southeast Asia.
Wednesday's earthquake is the most powerful in the country in years.
In October 2013, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on the island of Bohol, in the center of the country, killed more than 200 people and displaced 400,000.
The tremor had triggered catastrophic landslides.
Tens of thousands of homes as well as historic churches dating from the early days of Catholicism in the Philippines had been destroyed.
This powerful earthquake had modified the landscape of the island and caused a spectacular "
break in ground
“, raising a part of the ground up to three meters and creating a wall of rock above the epicenter.
In 1990, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the northern Philippines killed more than 1,200 people, caused extensive damage in Manila and broke ground over more than a hundred kilometres.
