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List of earthquakes in the Philippines

The Philippines lies within the zone of complex interaction between several tectonic plates, involving multiple subduction zones and one large zone of strike-slip, all of which are associated with major earthquakes. Many intraplate earthquakes of smaller magnitude also occur very regularly due to the interaction between the major tectonic plates in the region. The largest historical earthquake in the Philippines was the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake with Mw8.3.

Earthquakes in the Philippines
Tectonic map of the Philippines
LargestMw8.3 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake
DeadliestMw 8.0 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake 5,000–8,000 killed

Tectonic setting

Earthquakes in the Philippines and adjacent areas 1900 to 2012
Earthquakes in the Philippines and adjacent areas 1500 to 1899

Much of the Philippines lie within the area of strongly tectonised blocks of mainly island arc origin, known as the Philippine Mobile Belt. To the east, Philippine Sea Plate is subducting beneath the mobile belt along the line of the Philippine Trench and the East Luzon Trench at the northern end of the belt. The convergence across this boundary is strongly oblique and the strike-slip component is accommodated by movement on the left lateral Philippine Fault System. To the south of the Philippines lies the Molucca Sea Collision Zone, which involves opposite facing subduction zones to either side of the Molucca Sea Plate. To the west of the mobile belt the Sunda Plate is subducting eastwards beneath the belt along the lines of the Manila, Negros and Cotabato trenches. Within the Sunda Plate, the oceanic crust of the Sulu Sea is subducting beneath the Sulu Ridge along the Sulu Trench.[1] The Sunda Plate carries with it parts of the Palawan Microcontinental Block, which has collided with the mobile belt at the Negros and Cotabato trenches.[2]

The continuing movement of the tectonic plates leads to active faulting within the mobile belt, such as on the left lateral Cotabato Fault System that cuts across Mindanao and the right lateral Marikina Valley Fault System on Luzon.

Seismicity

Subduction zones

The subduction zones that surround most of the archipelago are the source of many of the larger earthquakes that strike the Philippines. This includes both faulting along the plate interfaces and within the subducting slabs. For the Philippine Trench, examples of those on the plate interface are the 1988 Mw 7.3 and the 2023 M7.6 events. The 1975 Mw 7.6 earthquake was caused by intra-slab normal faulting, while the 2012 M7.6 was a result of thrust faulting within the descending slab.[3]

The relatively young Cotabato Trench subduction zone has been associated with several large megathrust earthquakes, including the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake (M8.3), the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake (M8.0) and the 2002 Mindanao earthquake (M7.5).[4][5]

Strike-slip zones

The longest and most seismically active of the strike-slip structures is the 1200 km long Philippine Fault Zone.[6] It carries the left lateral component of the oblique convergence at the Philippine Trench, with a current estimated slip-rate of 35 ± 4 mm per year on Leyte, reducing northwards to about 20 mm per year on Luzon. On Luzon, the fault zone splays out into a number of different faults, including the Digdig Fault. One of the largest historical earthquake on the fault zone was the 1990 Luzon Ms  7.8 event that left nearly 2,000 people dead or missing. The same part of the fault zone is thought to have ruptured in the 1645 Luzon earthquake.[7] Further south the fault ruptured during the 1973 Ragay Gulf earthquake.

In central Mindanao, the Cotabato fault system consists of a mixture of NW-SE trending left lateral and SW-NE trending right lateral strike-slip faults. Four of these ruptured in the 2019 Cotabato and Davao del Sur earthquakes, each generating events with magnitudes of 6.4 or greater.[8]

Seismic hazard

Given the presence of major fault zones throughout the archipelago, any part of the Philippines may be affected by earthquakes, apart from parts of Palawan, where the seismic hazard risk is comparatively low. The greatest shaking hazard comes from shallow crustal faulting close to the Manila, Davao and Cebu metropolitan areas. Active reverse faults have >20 km wide zones of peak ground acceleration (PGA) >0.6g (acceleration due to gravity) for a 10% probability of exceedance (PoE) in a 50 year period, while active strike-slip faults have narrower zones centered around the fault traces at a similar level. All areas close to active subduction zones show increased hazard.[9]

In Metro Manila the estimated hazard has a mean PGA of 0.32 g for a PoE of 10% in 50 years. The main hazard comes from shallow fault sources, such as the Marikina Valley Fault System, but there is an important contribution to the overall hazard from the Manila subduction zone to the west and the potential for strong shaking from earthquakes originating the Philippines Trench to the east. In Metro Cebu, the mean PGA is also 0.32 g for the same PoE and period. The hazard is dominated by shallow crustal fault zones from this area of ongoing compressional tectonics. Using the same parameters Metro Davao has the higher value of 0.45 g. The metropolitan area sits close to shallow faults of left lateral strike-slip and oblique reverse type, and these generate the greatest hazard, although a significant contribution comes from sources in the Halmahera and Philippine subduction zones.[9]

Earthquakes

Spanish period (pre-1900)

The belfry of Manila Cathedral after the series of destructive earthquakes of July 1880.
DateTime‡PlaceMagnitudeIntensityCasualtiesNotesSources
1601 January 1616:00ManilaSeveralEarthquake duration lasted about 7 minutes. Aftershocks experienced the whole year.[10][11]
1645 November 3020:00Luzon7.5X600 dead,
3,000 injured		Dubbed as the "most terrible earthquake" in the annals of the Philippines. Greatly damaged ten newly-constructed cathedrals in Manila, residential villas and buildings in the city and nearby provinces. Provinces in the north reported several alteration of the ground, disappearances of small villages, changes in the river course, sand eruptions, etc. Small tsunamis were reported in southern Luzon.[11]
1645 December 523:00LuzonVIIIMajor aftershock of the November 30, 1645 Luzon earthquake that further destroyed remaining buildings in Manila and nearby towns. Aftershocks ceased around March 1646.[10][11]
1665 June 19ManilaVIII19Only the Jesuit Church experienced great damage.[11]
1743 January 1208:00Luzon: Tayabas, LagunaX5 deaths[10][11]
1787 July 1307:00Panay: Iloilo, Antique, BuenavistaXMany15 deaths in one building[10][11]
1840 March 22Sorsogon, Masbate Island, Casiguran, Albay6.5IX17200 injured[10][11]
1852 September 1618:45Luzon: Batnam, Rizal, Pampangan, ManilaIX3[10][11]
1863 June 319:20Manila, Balangan, RizalX4001863 Manila earthquake[10][11]
1879 July 100:50NW Mindanao, SurigaoX1879 Surigao earthquake[10][11]
1880 July 14–24[12]04:40LuzonXCaused severe damage to these major cities in Luzon: Manila (Buildings collapsed)[10][11]
1892 March 1620:58Luzon: Abra, Pangasinan, La UnionX2[10][11]
1897 September 2113:15NW Mindanao, Dapitan8.7IX13–100+ (second event)1897 Mindanao earthquakes A pair of large earthquakes off Mindanao[10][11]

20th century

The damage caused by a tsunami at Barangay Tibpuan, Lebak, Mindanao after the 7.9 Moro Gulf Earthquake on August 16, 1976.
DateTime‡PlaceMagnitudeIntensityCasualtiesNotesSources
1907 April 1805:00SE Luzon, Camarines7.6IX2 dead[10]
1911 July 12Mindanao: Talacogon, Davao, Butuan7.8XCaused seiches in lakes and the Agusan River. Many homes damaged in Talacogon and Butuan[10]
1918 August 1520:18Cotabato8.3X46 dead1918 Celebes Sea earthquake[10]
1924 April 1500:20E. Mindanao8.3IX[10]
1925 May 518:07W. Liuzon6.8IX17 dead[10]
1928 December 1919:37Cotabato7.3VII93 dead[10]
1937 August 20Luzon7.5VIII1 dead, 200 injured[10]
1948 January 2501:46Panay, Iloilo City, Antique7.8X72 dead1948 Lady Caycay earthquake[10]
1954 July 210:45Sorsogon, Bacon, Legaspi6.8IX13 dead, 101 injured[10]
1955 April 102:17Lanao, Ozamiz, Cotabato7.6VIII400 dead1955 Lanao earthquake[10][13]
1968 August 204:19Luzon, Manila7.3IX270 dead, 261 injured1968 Casiguran earthquake[10][14]
1970 April 713:34Luzon7.3VI15 dead, 200 injured[10]
1973 March 1716:30Ragay Gulf7.5IX15 dead, ~100 injured1973 Ragay Gulf earthquake[14][15]
1976 August 1700:11Moro Gulf8.0VIII8,000 dead, 10,000 injured1976 Moro Gulf earthquake[10][14]
1983 August 1720:17Luzon6.5VIII16 dead, 47 injured1983 Luzon earthquake[10][14]
1985 April 24Luzon: Benguet, Baguio6.1VII6 dead, 11 injured[10]
1988 June 1904:19Mindoro: San Jose, Calapan6.2VII2 dead, 2 injured1988 Mindoro earthquake[10][16]
1990 February 815:15Bohol6.8VII6 dead, >200 injured1990 Bohol Sea earthquake[17]
1990 June 1415:41Panay7.1VIII8 dead, 41 injured1990 Panay earthquake[14]
1990 July 1616:26Luzon7.8IX2,412 dead, 3,000 injured1990 Luzon earthquake[10][14]
1994 November 1403:15Mindoro7.1VII81 dead, 225 injured1994 Mindoro earthquake[10][14]
1999 December 1202:03Zambales7.3VIII6 dead, 40 injured1999 Luzon earthquake[10][18]

21st century

Santa Cruz Parish Church, Maribojoc, Bohol (Before and After 2013 Bohol Earthquake)
DateTime‡PlaceMagnitudeIntensityCasualtiesNotesSources
2001 January 114:57Mindanao7.5VII[10]
2002 March 605:16Mindanao7.5IX15 dead, 100+ injured2002 Mindanao earthquake[10]
2003 November 1901:14Samar6.5VII1 dead, 21 injured[10]
2010 July 24Mindanao7.3, 7.6, 7.5III2010 Mindanao earthquakes triplet earthquake, deep focus events[19]
2012 February 611:49Negros6.7VII113 dead, 112 injured2012 Negros earthquake[20]
2012 August 3120:47Samar7.6VII1 dead, 1 injured2012 Samar earthquake[21]
2013 October 1508:12Bohol7.2IX222 dead, 976 injured2013 Bohol earthquake[22]
2017 February 1022:03Surigao6.5VIII8 dead, 200 injured2017 Surigao earthquake[23]
2017 July 616:03Leyte6.5VIII4 dead, 100+ injured2017 Leyte earthquake[24]
2019 April 2217:11Luzon6.1VII18 dead, 256 injured2019 Luzon earthquake[25]
2019 April 2313:37Eastern Samar6.5VI48 injured2019 Eastern Samar earthquake[26]
2019 July 920:36Cotabato5.6VI1 dead, 73 injuredJuly 2019 Cotabato earthquake[27]
2019 July 2707:37Batanes6.0VI9 dead, 60 injured2019 Batanes earthquake[28]
2019 October 1619:37Cotabato6.4VIII7 dead, 215 injured2019 Cotabato earthquakes[29][30]
2019 October 2909:04Cotabato6.6VIII24 dead, 563 injured
2019 October 3109:11Cotabato6.5VIII
2019 December 1514:11Davao del Sur6.8VII13 dead, 210 injured2019 Davao del Sur earthquake[31]
2020 August 1808:03Masbate6.6VIII2 dead, 170 injured2020 Masbate earthquake[32]
2021 August 1201:46Davao Oriental7.1VII1 dead2021 Davao Oriental earthquake[33]
2022 July 2708:43Luzon7.0VIII11 dead, 615 injured2022 Luzon earthquake[34]
2023 November 1716:14Mindanao6.7VIII11 dead, 730 injuredNovember 2023 Mindanao earthquake[35]
2023 December 222:37Mindanao7.6VII3 dead, 79 injuredDecember 2023 Mindanao earthquake[36]

Deadliest earthquakes

Ten deadliest recorded earthquakes in the Philippines since the 1600s
MagnitudeLocationDateDeathsMissingInjuredDamageSource
18.0Moro GulfAugust 16, 19764,7912,2889,928
27.8Luzon IslandJuly 16, 19901,6211,000>3,000₱ 10 billion
3UnknownManilaJune 3, 18631,000[11]
47.5Luzon IslandNovember 30, 1645>600>3,000Unknown
58.1Mati, Davao OrientalApril 14, 1924~500[37][38]
67.4Lanao del SurApril 1, 1955>400UnknownUS$5 million[39]
77.6Casiguran, AuroraAugust 2, 1968271261
87.2Bohol and CebuOctober 15, 20132228796₱ 4 billion (est.)[40]
96.7Negros OrientalFebruary 6, 2012113112₱ 383 million
107.1MindoroNovember 15, 199478430₱ 5.15 million[41]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Earthquakes in the Philippines.
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