Push Admin

LIST: Major earthquakes that jolted Luzon in recent history

Article (news)

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - The recent 6.1-magnitude Luzon quake that smashed establishments in Pampanga and rocked Metro Manila earlier this week was among the strongest temblors that hit the Philippines&#x27; largest island this decade, state seismologists said Wednesday.</p><p>Earthquakes that range from magnitudes 6.0 to 6.9 are considered as &quot;strong quakes&quot;; 7.0 to 7.9 are &quot;major quakes&quot;; and 8.0 and above are &quot;great quakes,&quot; Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum told ANC.</p><p>But seismic activities that result into surface ruptures are also considered as &quot;major&quot; tremors, Phivolcs research specialist Rhommel Grutas told reporters in a separate interview.</p><p>Here&#x27;s a list of major earthquakes that jolted Luzon in recent history:</p><div><strong>2019 Zambales quake</strong></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/04/25/20190425-cleanup-rescue-chozun-pampanga.jpg"/><figcaption>Members of the search and rescue teams emerge from the site of damaged Chozun Supermarket building at the Porac Public market in Porac Pampanga on April 24, 2019. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The 6.1-magnitude tremor originated 10 kilometers beneath the surface of Castillejos town in Zambales. </p><p>The rumbling which took place around 5 p.m., damaged the belfry of a heritage church and flattened a 4-story supermarket in Porac, Pampanga leaving at least a dozen people dead. The temblor also forced the Clark International Airport to cease operations for more than 24 hours after parts of its ceiling collapsed and injured passengers at the terminal.</p><p>Train systems and several government offices in Metro Manila were suspended after the quake rocked the National Capital Region. Hundreds of gallons of water splashed down the edifice of a building in Bonifacio Global City, while the Emilio Aguinaldo College in Manila was left slanted.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/04/23/20190423-quake-infographic.jpg"/></figure></div><div><br/><strong>1990 Nueva Ecija earthquake</strong></div><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss1.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss2.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss3.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss4.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss5.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss6.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss7.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss8.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss9.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss10.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss11.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss12.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss13.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss14.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss15.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss16.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss17.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss18.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss19.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss20.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss21.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss22.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss23.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss24.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss25.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss26.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss27.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss28.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss29.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss30.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss31.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss32.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss33.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss34.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss35.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss36.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss37.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss38.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss39.jpg"/></div><div><img data-lazy="//img.abs-cbnnews.com/2015/slideshow/current-affairs/quake/ss40.jpg"/></div></div><div class="media-content slider-desc"><div class="item-desc"><p>The first reports that came in pointed at Cabanatuan City as the hardest-hit area, and it was a rush for journalists to get to the scene.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>A college school building was reported flattened to the ground in the middle of a school day.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Several people were reported injured and others were trapped underneath the rubble of the six-storey Christian College of the Philippines in Cabanatuan City.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>As the following day dawned, rescue crews and government officials arrived at the scene, among them Mayor Dick Gordon of Olongapo City.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>U.S. Marines stationed in Subic Naval Base, which was still then an American military facility, also rushed to Cabanatuan City.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The epicenter of the quake was later determined to be in Nueva Ecija, a few kilometers outside Cabanatuan City.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The quake&#x27;s damage stretched from the mountains of Cordillera all the way to Manila. After two days, reports started coming in that Baguio City, the Cordillera region&#x27;s nerve center, was also badly hit.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Getting to Baguio City meant travelling by foot through landslides via the Naguillan Road, as all three access roads were blocked by landslides, including the most well-known, Kennon Road.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The smell of death in Baguio City was apparent in the air, even just two days after the quake.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>More than two dozen buildings in Baguio City collapsed and majority of the earthquake&#x27;s 1,600 casualties were from the area.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>For several days, Baguio City was hit by several aftershocks, forcing people to leave their homes. People in the city were constantly moving.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>One of Baguio City&#x27;s well-known hotels, the Nevada, was in ruins after the temblor.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The most famous of Baguio City&#x27;s hotels then, the Hyatt Terraces, fell like a set of dominoes.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The first responders were miners from Benguet. Owing to their skills in cave exploration, the miners were able to save many lives in the process.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Foreign rescue workers, among them from Japan, started arriving three days after the quake.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The city&#x27;s funeral houses were overflowing and the casualties were brought to makeshift morgues.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>A cadet from the Philippine Military Academy paused for a breather from rescue work.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Hundreds flocked to the Loakan Airport hoping to be evacuated by air.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Aircraft from the Philippine Air Force ferried mostly rescue teams and relief goods but accommodated passengers in mercy flights out of the city.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Chinook helicopters from the US Air Force brought in rescue teams and equipment at the Loakan airport.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Rescue teams assessed the damage to the Hyatt Terraces Hotel before attempting any rescue. Remarkably, 14 days after the quake, the hotel&#x27;s cook, Pedrito Dy, was recovered alive from the rubble.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>A rescuer attempted to scale the toppled Royal Inn on Session Road, Baguio&#x27;s main avenue.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Children watched from the sidelines.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The city&#x27;s most famous landmark that welcomes tourists passing through Kennon Road was not spared by the earthquake.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Seven days after the quake, other affected areas had yet to be reached by rescuers and aid groups. Some residents traveled the damaged Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway linking Nueva Ecija to Nueva Vizcaya by foot.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Along the way, our group encountered members of the indigenous Kalanguya tribe performing a &quot;canao&quot;, an offering to the gods in the face of a disaster.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>An elder of the tribe led the offering in the ritual wherein an animal is sacrificed.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Our group spent two days of traveling on foot, first via the broken highway and then through mountain passes showing cracks produced by the quake, to reach Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya, a village in the mountain isolated by the earthquake.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>In Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya, the villagers adjusted to the threats of aftershocks and the absence of commerce a week after the devastating quake.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>People live in makeshift tents fashioned from different materials in the village&#x27;s public school grounds.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The village&#x27;s health center was totally destroyed.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Relief goods arrived and were stored and distributed at the church.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Inside one of the makeshift tents, a family of five kept warm by huddling close together.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Outside, a bonfire kept the chilly mountain air at bay.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The village got a visit from a helicopter of the Presidential Airlift Wing. It was an advanced team for President Cory Aquino, and our group&#x27;s ticket out of the village without having to travel back by foot.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>In Dagupan City, almost two weeks after the quake, things crawled back at a snail&#x27;s pace in the absence of attention from disaster response agencies.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Dagupan City was flooded after the earthquake because of liquefaction, wherein ground water rose, rendering the top soil loose.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>The sign tells of the faith that kept the people of Dagupan City holding on to hope despite the calamity.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>A family uses a damaged public market in Aringay, La Union for temporary shelter. Aringay was one of two villages that sank because of liquefaction.</p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>In Aringay, La Union, the town&#x27;s church was flattened, leaving only a tablet with part of God&#x27;s Ten Commandments standing.</p></div></div></div><p>Though the 7.8-magnitude tremor originated in the Digdig Fault in Nueva Ecija, Filipinos more often call it as the &quot;Baguio quake&quot; after it crushed an upscale hotel in Baguio City, burying hundreds of people.</p><p>Seismologists dubbed this temblor as the &quot;Killer Quake&quot; after it damaged 25 percent of houses in Metro Manila, leaving at least 3,000 people dead.</p><p>Damage to infrastructure was pegged at P10 billion after the tremor produced a 125-kilometer surface rupture that stretches from Dingalan town in Aurora to Kapaya town in Nueva Vizcaya, data from Phivolcs showed. </p><p>The temblor was felt from the Ilocos region in the Northern part of Luzon, to Aklan province in Visayas.</p><div><br/><strong>1968 Casiguran earthquake</strong></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/04/25/20190425-casiguran-earthquake-1.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Photo from Phivolcs website</em></figcaption></figure></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/04/25/20190425-casiguran-earthquake-2.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Photo from Phivolcs website</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The 7.6-magnitude quake in Casiguran, Aurora triggered the collapse of the 6-story Ruby Tower in Binondo, Manila leaving some 270 people dead and 261 others injured.</p><p>Parts of the Philippine Bar Association Building, the Aloha Theater and the Tuason Building in the National Capital Region also collapsed due to the quake.</p><p>Seismologists recorded 500-meter fissures in parts of Aurora province. </p>

<p>The recent 6.1-magnitude Luzon quake that smashed establishments in Pampanga and rocked Metro Manila earlier this week was among the strongest temblors that hit the Philippines' largest island this decade, state seismologists said Wednesday. </p>

The recent 6.1-magnitude Luzon quake that smashed establishments in Pampanga and rocked Metro Manila earlier this week was among the strongest temblors that hit the Philippines' largest island this decade, state seismologists said Wednesday.

LIST: Major earthquakes that jolted Luzon in recent history

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

News

LIST: Major earthquakes that jolted Luzon in recent history

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 25, 2019 12:59 PM PHT

|

Updated April 25, 2019 01:13 PM PHT

Read More:

damage

quake

earthquake

Luzon quake

disaster

Phivolcs

Visayas quake

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.