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List of earthquakes in the Philippines

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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

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.

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. 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.

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.

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).

Strike-slip zones

The longest and most seismically active of the strike-slip structures is the 1200 km long Philippine Fault Zone. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.
1665 June 19 Manila VIII 19 Only the Jesuit Church experienced great damage.
1743 January 12 08:00 Luzon: Tayabas, Laguna X 5 deaths
1787 July 13 07:00 Panay: Iloilo, Antique, Buenavista X Many 15 deaths in one building
1840 March 22 Sorsogon, Masbate Island, Casiguran, Albay 6.5 IX 17 200 injured
1852 September 16 18:45 Luzon: Batnam, Rizal, Pampangan, Manila IX 3
1863 June 3 19:20 Manila, Balangan, Rizal X 400 1863 Manila earthquake
1879 July 1 00:50 NW Mindanao, Surigao X 1879 Surigao earthquake
1880 July 14–24 04:40 Luzon X Caused severe damage to these major cities in Luzon: Manila (Buildings collapsed)
1892 March 16 20:58 Luzon: Abra, Pangasinan, La Union X 2
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

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

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
2002 March 6 05:16 Mindanao 7.5 IX 15 dead, 100+ injured 2002 Mindanao earthquake
2003 November 19 01:14 Samar 6.5 VII 1 dead, 21 injured
2010 July 24 Mindanao 7.3, 7.6, 7.5 III 2010 Mindanao earthquakes triplet earthquake, deep focus events
2012 February 6 11:49 Negros 6.7 VII 113 dead, 112 injured 2012 Negros earthquake
2012 August 31 20:47 Samar 7.6 VII 1 dead, 1 injured 2012 Samar earthquake
2013 October 15 08:12 Bohol 7.2 IX 222 dead, 976 injured 2013 Bohol earthquake
2017 February 10 22:03 Surigao 6.5 VIII 8 dead, 200 injured 2017 Surigao earthquake
2017 July 6 16:03 Leyte 6.5 VIII 4 dead, 100+ injured 2017 Leyte earthquake
2019 April 22 17:11 Luzon 6.1 VII 18 dead, 256 injured 2019 Luzon earthquake
2019 April 23 13:37 Eastern Samar 6.5 VI 48 injured 2019 Eastern Samar earthquake
2019 July 9 20:36 Cotabato 5.6 VI 1 dead, 73 injured July 2019 Cotabato earthquake
2019 July 27 07:37 Batanes 6.0 VI 9 dead, 60 injured 2019 Batanes earthquake
2019 October 16 19:37 Cotabato 6.4 VIII 7 dead, 215 injured 2019 Cotabato earthquakes
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
2020 August 18 08:03 Masbate 6.6 VIII 2 dead, 170 injured 2020 Masbate earthquake
2021 August 12 01:46 Davao Oriental 7.1 VII 1 dead 2021 Davao Oriental earthquake
2022 July 27 08:43 Luzon 7.0 VIII 11 dead, 615 injured 2022 Luzon earthquake
2023 November 17 16:14 Mindanao 6.7 VIII 11 dead, 730 injured November 2023 Mindanao earthquake
2023 December 2 22:37 Mindanao 7.6 VII 3 dead, 79 injured December 2023 Mindanao earthquake

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 Unknown Manila June 3, 1863 1,000
4 7.5 Luzon Island November 30, 1645 >600 >3,000 Unknown
5 8.1 Mati, Davao Oriental April 14, 1924 ~500
6 7.4 Lanao del Sur April 1, 1955 >400 Unknown US$5 million
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.)
9 6.7 Negros Oriental February 6, 2012 113 112 ₱ 383 million
10 7.1 Mindoro November 15, 1994 78 430 ₱ 5.15 million

See also

References

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