5.3-Magnitude Quake Strikes Northern Philippines, No Casualties Reported

A magnitude-5.3 tremor shook the northern Philippines on Sunday, with no damage or injuries reported. The quake's epicenter lay roughly 125 kilometers northeast of Laoag city in Ilocos Norte province, near the lightly populated Babuyan Islands.

Seismology officials said such activity is routine, with tremors recorded nearly every day across the archipelago. The Philippines lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt circling the Pacific basin. The quake came a day after a separate tremor on Indonesia's Java island left around 4,000 people dead.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.