On Saturday Morning a Shallow M5.3 Earthquake struck in the Philippine Sea near Tacloban (The Philippines).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on February 15th, 2025. Last updated February 19th, 2025.

In the morning of Saturday February 15th, 2025, a shallow and significant Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hit in the Philippine Sea 92 kilometer from Tacloban, The Philippines.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, 28 kilometers (17 mi) off the coast of The Philippines, 92 kilometer east-northeast of Tacloban in Eastern Visayas. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Feb 15, 2025 09:18AM (Manila Time) - Feb 15, 2025 01:18 Universal Time.
Location:	92 km ENE of Tacloban, Eastern Visayas, The Philippines. Coordinates 11°33'44"N 125°47'5"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.3 Detected by 189 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.042 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very 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 39 kilometer (24 mi) east of the epicenter.

Major cities near this earthquake: Cebu City is located 249 km to the southwest. Tacloban is located 92 km to the west-southwest. Panalanoy is located 92 km to the west-southwest.

The table below provides an overview of all places in proximity of today's earthquake.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 7 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 7 people have reported shaking in 5 places, all within 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:

• San Antonio (Basey, Samar), Eastern Visayas, Philippines: 2 people.
• Tanauan, Eastern Visayas, Philippines: 2 people.
• Logon, Central Visayas, Philippines: 1 person.
• Sulat, Eastern Visayas, Philippines: 1 person.
• Tabontabon, Eastern Visayas, Philippines: 1 person.

27 Aftershocks detected

Since this main shock, 27 smaller aftershocks were detected. Just 2 days after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-4.7 was detected 25 km (16 mi) southwest of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 4 smaller foreshocks were detected. Roughly 2 days before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-4.8 was detected nearby this earthquake.

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

The risk of aftershocks decreases rapidly over time. Usually, aftershocks are at least one order of magnitude lower than a main shock.

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 February 14th, 2025, when a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit 7 km (4 mi) further north-east. An even stronger magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck on August 18th, 2020.

In total, 50 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.3 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 2 months.

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 19/02/25 01:28 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000pdvr
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20250215_0000018
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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