Significant M5.1 Earthquake struck on Tuesday Afternoon in the Philippine Sea near Tacloban (The Philippines).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on May 7th, 2024. Last updated May 19th, 2024.

In the Philippine Sea 76 kilometer from Tacloban, The Philippines, a significant M5.1 earthquake occurred in the late afternoon of Tuesday May 7th, 2024.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, right off the coast of The Philippines (4 mi offshore), 76 kilometer east of Tacloban in Eastern Visayas. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 62 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	May 7, 2024 04:03PM (Manila Time) - May 7, 2024 08:03 Universal Time.
Location:	76 km east of Tacloban, Eastern Visayas, The Philippines. Coordinates 11°19'14"N 125°41'56"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 118 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.052 .
Depth:	62 km (39 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in The Philippines . The closest significant population center near the earthquake is Borongan in Eastern Visayas, The Philippines. Borongan is located 43 kilometer (27 mi) south-east of the epicenter.

Multiple large cities are in proximity of today's earthquake. Cebu City is located 227 km to the west-southwest. Tacloban is located 76 km to the west. Panalanoy is located 76 km to the west.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 1 person

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 1 person has reported shaking in one place in Philippines.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Hernani, Eastern Visayas, Philippines: 1 person.

10 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 10 smaller aftershocks. A 3.9 magnitude earthquake hit 1 day later 75 km (46 mi) southwest of this earthquake.

This main shock was prefaced by 12 smaller foreshocks. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 2 days earlier. It measured a magnitude of 4.3

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Earthquakes can create aftershocks. These are generally at least 1 magnitude lower than any main shock, and as time passes the chance and strength of aftershocks decreases.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since May 3rd, 2024, when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit 67 km (42 mi) further southwest. An even stronger magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck on December 3rd, 2023.

In total, 92 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.1 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every month.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 19/05/24 09:18 (). This article contains currently available information about the earthquake and is automatically composed. We continue to update this article up to a few days after the earthquake occurred.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000mwwl
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240507_0000072
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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