In the northern Philippines, a strong earthquake has struck on Wednesday, causing walls to crack and high-rise buildings to wobble more than 249 miles away in the capital city of Manila, multiple reports said.
USGS reports that the quake occurred in northern Luzon, the most populous island in the Philippines, at approximately 8:45 a.m. local time. The agency first assigned a magnitude of 7.1 to the earthquake before reducing it to 7.0.
Personnel of a medical facility in Abra province were ordered to evacuate after the structure partially collapsed as a result of the earthquake. No injuries were reported.
On her Facebook page, Abra governor Joy Bernos shared photographs of the damaged Abra provincial hospital, which revealed a large hole in the front entry facade.
Images depicted hospital beds, including one with a patient, being rolled across the street and hospital workers being evacuated.
The earthquake struck around six miles southeast of the town of Dolores at a shallow depth of six miles. There were no early reports of significant injuries or deaths.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles told a press conference that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose hometown is in the northern Philippines, has ordered rescue and relief teams to be dispatched to Abra and is prepared to fly to the afflicted area.
Other images posted on Facebook by local officials and citizens depicted structures reduced to rubble and others sagging precariously with broken glass.
In the adjacent province of Ilocos Sur, centuries-old monuments constructed during the Spanish colonial period were devastated in the city of Vigan. The city's Bantay Bell Tower began to collapse on video uploaded on social media as witnesses ran for safety.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) advised locals to brace for aftershocks, but stressed that no tsunami warnings were issued because the earthquake was recorded inland.
The tremor was also felt in Manila, where several buildings were evacuated, including one on the 30th floor, and the city's metro rail systems were suspended during rush hour.
The Philippines is susceptible to natural disasters and lies on the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire," a belt of volcanoes and fault lines that encircles the Pacific Ocean's edge.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked Bohol Island in the central Philippines in October 2013, claiming the lives of more than 200 people and triggering a series of landslides.
