List of earthquakes in the Philippines

Earthquakes in the Philippines

Tectonic map of the Philippines
Largest	Mw8.3 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake
Deadliest	Mw 8.0 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake 5,000–8,000 killed

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 M_w8.3.

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 M_w 7.3 and the 2023 M7.6 events. The 1975 M_w 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 M_s  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.

Date	Time‡	Place	Magnitude	Intensity	Casualties	Notes	Sources
1601 January 16	16:00	Manila			Several	Earthquake duration lasted about 7 minutes. Aftershocks experienced the whole year.	[10][11]
1645 November 30	20:00	Luzon	7.5	X	600 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 5	23:00	Luzon		VIII		Major 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 19		Manila		VIII	19	Only the Jesuit Church experienced great damage.	[11]
1743 January 12	08:00	Luzon: Tayabas, Laguna		X	5 deaths		[10][11]
1787 July 13	07:00	Panay: Iloilo, Antique, Buenavista		X	Many	15 deaths in one building	[10][11]
1840 March 22		Sorsogon, Masbate Island, Casiguran, Albay	6.5	IX	17	200 injured	[10][11]
1852 September 16	18:45	Luzon: Batnam, Rizal, Pampangan, Manila		IX	3		[10][11]
1863 June 3	19:20	Manila, Balangan, Rizal		X	400	1863 Manila earthquake	[10][11]
1879 July 1	00:50	NW Mindanao, Surigao		X		1879 Surigao earthquake	[10][11]
1880 July 14–24[12]	04:40	Luzon		X		Caused severe damage to these major cities in Luzon: Manila (Buildings collapsed)	[10][11]
1892 March 16	20:58	Luzon: Abra, Pangasinan, La Union		X	2		[10][11]
1897 September 21	13:15	NW Mindanao, Dapitan	8.7	IX	13–100+ (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.

The collapsed Hyatt Terraces Baguio Hotel in Baguio after the 1990 Luzon earthquake.

Date	Time‡	Place	Magnitude	Intensity	Casualties	Notes	Sources
1907 April 18	05:00	SE Luzon, Camarines	7.6	IX	2 dead		[10]
1911 July 12		Mindanao: Talacogon, Davao, Butuan	7.8	X		Caused seiches in lakes and the Agusan River. Many homes damaged in Talacogon and Butuan	[10]
1918 August 15	20:18	Cotabato	8.3	X	46 dead	1918 Celebes Sea earthquake	[10]
1924 April 15	00:20	E. Mindanao	8.3	IX			[10]
1925 May 5	18:07	W. Luzon	6.8	IX	17 dead		[10]
1928 December 19	19:37	Cotabato	7.3	VII	93 dead		[10]
1937 August 20		Luzon	7.5	VIII	1 dead, 200 injured		[10]
1948 January 25	01:46	Panay, Iloilo City, Antique	7.8	X	72 dead	1948 Lady Caycay earthquake	[10]
1954 July 2	10:45	Sorsogon, Bacon, Legaspi	6.8	IX	13 dead, 101 injured		[10]
1955 April 1	02:17	Lanao, Ozamiz, Cotabato	7.6	VIII	400 dead	1955 Lanao earthquake	[10][13]
1968 August 2	04:19	Luzon, Manila	7.3	IX	270 dead, 261 injured	1968 Casiguran earthquake	[10][14]
1970 April 7	13:34	Luzon	7.3	VI	15 dead, 200 injured		[10]
1973 March 17	16:30	Ragay Gulf	7.5	IX	15 dead, ~100 injured	1973 Ragay Gulf earthquake	[14][15]
1976 August 17	00:11	Moro Gulf	8.0	VIII	8,000 dead, 10,000 injured	1976 Moro Gulf earthquake	[10][14]
1983 August 17	20:17	Luzon	6.5	VIII	16 dead, 47 injured	1983 Luzon earthquake	[10][14]
1985 April 24		Luzon: Benguet, Baguio	6.1	VII	6 dead, 11 injured		[10]
1988 June 19	04:19	Mindoro: San Jose, Calapan	6.2	VII	2 dead, 2 injured	1988 Mindoro earthquake	[10][16]
1990 February 8	15:15	Bohol	6.8	VII	6 dead, >200 injured	1990 Bohol Sea earthquake	[17]
1990 June 14	15:41	Panay	7.1	VIII	8 dead, 41 injured	1990 Panay earthquake	[14]
1990 July 16	16:26	Luzon	7.8	IX	2,412 dead, 3,000 injured	1990 Luzon earthquake	[10][14]
1994 November 14	03:15	Mindoro	7.1	VII	81 dead, 225 injured	1994 Mindoro earthquake	[10][14]
1999 December 12	02:03	Zambales	7.3	VIII	6 dead, 40 injured	1999 Luzon earthquake	[10][18]

21st century

Santa Cruz Parish Church, Maribojoc, Bohol (Before and After 2013 Bohol Earthquake)

Date	Time‡	Place	Magnitude	Intensity	Casualties	Notes	Sources
2001 January 1	14:57	Mindanao	7.5	VII			[10]
2002 March 6	05:16	Mindanao	7.5	IX	15 dead, 100+ injured	2002 Mindanao earthquake	[10]
2003 November 19	01:14	Samar	6.5	VII	1 dead, 21 injured		[10]
2010 July 24		Mindanao	7.3, 7.6, 7.5	III		2010 Mindanao earthquakes triplet earthquake, deep focus events	[19]
2012 February 6	11:49	Negros	6.7	VII	113 dead, 112 injured	2012 Negros earthquake	[20]
2012 August 31	20:47	Samar	7.6	VII	1 dead, 1 injured	2012 Samar earthquake	[21]
2013 October 15	08:12	Bohol	7.2	IX	222 dead, 976 injured	2013 Bohol earthquake	[22]
2017 February 10	22:03	Surigao	6.5	VIII	8 dead, 200 injured	2017 Surigao earthquake	[23]
2017 July 6	16:03	Leyte	6.5	VIII	4 dead, 100+ injured	2017 Leyte earthquake	[24]
2019 April 22	17:11	Luzon	6.1	VII	18 dead, 256 injured	2019 Luzon earthquake	[25]
2019 April 23	13:37	Eastern Samar	6.5	VI	48 injured	2019 Eastern Samar earthquake	[26]
2019 July 9	20:36	Cotabato	5.6	VI	1 dead, 73 injured	July 2019 Cotabato earthquake	[27]
2019 July 27	07:37	Batanes	6.0	VI	9 dead, 60 injured	2019 Batanes earthquake	[28]
2019 October 16	19:37	Cotabato	6.4	VIII	7 dead, 215 injured	2019 Cotabato earthquakes	[29][30]
2019 October 29	09:04	Cotabato	6.6	VIII	24 dead, 563 injured
2019 October 31	09:11	Cotabato	6.5	VIII
2019 December 15	14:11	Davao del Sur	6.8	VII	13 dead, 210 injured	2019 Davao del Sur earthquake	[31]
2020 August 18	08:03	Masbate	6.6	VIII	2 dead, 170 injured	2020 Masbate earthquake	[32]
2021 August 12	01:46	Davao Oriental	7.1	VII	1 dead	2021 Davao Oriental earthquake	[33]
2022 July 27	08:43	Luzon	7.0	VIII	11 dead, 615 injured	2022 Luzon earthquake	[34]
2023 November 17	16:14	Mindanao	6.7	VIII	11 dead, 730 injured	November 2023 Mindanao earthquake	[35]
2023 December 2	22:37	Mindanao	7.6	VII	3 dead, 79 injured	December 2023 Mindanao earthquake	[36]

Deadliest earthquakes

Ten deadliest recorded earthquakes in the Philippines since the 1600s
Magnitude		Location	Date	Deaths	Missing	Injured	Damage	Source
1	8.0	Moro Gulf	August 16, 1976	4,791	2,288	9,928
2	7.8	Luzon Island	July 16, 1990	1,621	1,000	>3,000	₱ 10 billion
3	6.4	Manila	June 3, 1863	1,000				[11][37]
4	7.5	Luzon Island	November 30, 1645	>600		>3,000	Unknown
5	8.1	Mati, Davao Oriental	April 14, 1924	~500				[38][39]
6	7.4	Lanao del Sur	April 1, 1955	>400		Unknown	US$5 million	[40]
7	7.6	Casiguran, Aurora	August 2, 1968	271		261
8	7.2	Bohol and Cebu	October 15, 2013	222	8	796	₱ 4 billion (est.)	[41]
9	6.7	Negros Oriental	February 6, 2012	113		112	₱ 383 million
10	7.1	Mindoro	November 15, 1994	78		430	₱ 5.15 million	[42]

See also

• Subduction tectonics of the Philippines

References

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External links

• Official website of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Archived January 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
• Latest Earthquake Bulletin in the Philippines
• Official website of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council