DAMAGING M6.9 Earthquake struck on Tuesday Evening in the Philippine Sea near Cebu City (The Philippines).

Written by Earthquakelist.org on September 30th, 2025. Last updated November 29th, 2025.

In the evening of Tuesday September 30th, 2025, a DAMAGING and strong Magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit in the Philippine Sea 95 kilometer from Cebu City, The Philippines. The earthquake struck near a very densely populated region. The USGS has indicated there is a potential risk at tsunami's following this earthquake.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, right off the coast of The Philippines (8 mi offshore), 95 kilometer north-northeast of Cebu City in Central 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:	Sep 30, 2025 09:59PM (Manila Time) - Sep 30, 2025 13:59 Universal Time.
Location:	95 km NNE of Cebu City, Central Visayas, The Philippines. Coordinates 11°8'4"N 124°8'40"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 6.9 Detected by 51 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.04 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very shallow depth.
Max. Intensity:	IX Violent On the Modified Mercalli Scale.
Tsunami Risk:	Potential tsunami risk The USGS has indicated there is a potential risk at tsunami's following this earthquake. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Potential tsunami risk

There is a potential tsunami risk in the aftermath of this earthquake, immediately evacuate to higher grounds away from coastal areas and monitor advice from local authorities. The US Geographic Survey organization has indicated a potential risk for tsunami's following this earthquake.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Significant impact predicted

The US Geographic Survey (USGS) describes the impact of this earthquake as follows:

Seventy-nine persons killed, including 15 killed by a rockslide; and 1271 injured in Cebu. At least 7420 homes destroyed and 151,979 damaged in the Cebu-Leyte area. At least 959 structures, including buildings, 15 bridges and 11 roads were damaged in the Biliran-Cebu. Eastern Visayas-Leyte area; with power and communication outages reported in the same area. Ground rupture, coastal subsidence and at least 116 sinkholes were reported in Cebu. Landslides were reported in the Cebu-Leyte area.

Based on scientific estimates by the USGS, the risk of high fatalities for this earthquake is classified at level ORANGE (orange). They expect an 39% likelyhood of between 100 and 1,000 fatalities, and a 98% chance that the number of fatalities falls between 1 and 10,000.

The USGS classifies the economic impact of this earthquake at level ORANGE (orange). They expect an 39% likelyhood of between 100 and 1,000 million US Dollars in economic damage and impact, and a 94% chance that the economic impact of this earthquake falls between 1 and 10,000 million USD.

Roughly 30 million people exposed to shaking

An estimated 30 million have been exposed to shaking (An MMI or Modified Mercalli Intensity level II or higher) as a result of this earthquake according scientific estimates published by the USGS.

The highest earthquake impact level for this earthquake is IX, which corresponds with violent shaking and likely heavy damage. Roughly 54,290 people are expected to be exposed to this level. Intensity level IV was experienced by the majority of people (around 15 million). In their region, light shaking and likely no damage can be expected. All exposure to shaking was within the borders of The Philippines .

Nearby towns and cities

This earthquake may have been felt in The Philippines . Bogo in Central Visayas, The Philippines is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 18 kilometer (11 mi) east-northeast of Bogo. The intensity of shaking and damage in Bogo is estimated to be around level IX on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale (violent shaking, likely heavy damage).

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. Cebu City is located 95 km to the south-southwest and experienced an intensity of VI (strong shaking, probably light damage). Lapu-Lapu City is located 94 km to the south-southwest and experienced an intensity of V (moderate shaking, very light damage). Ormoc is located 53 km to the east-southeast and experienced an intensity of VI (strong shaking, probably light damage).

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below. If places don't have intensity data available, it likely means the experienced impact in those places was fairly small.

Overview of nearby places

Earthquake Intensity Map

The graph below overlays a map of the region around the epicenter with earthquake intensity data provided by the US Geographic Survey. The highest intensity level detected for this earthquake is IX.

I Not felt

II Weak

III Weak

IV Light

V Moderate

VI Strong

VII Very Strong

VIII Severe

IX Violent

X Extreme

Shaking reported by 618 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 618 people have reported shaking in 237 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:

• Bacolod, Western Visayas, Philippines: 32 people.
• Mandawa, Central Visayas, Philippines: 29 people.
• Cebu, Central Visayas, Philippines: 25 people.
• Consolacion, Central Visayas, Philippines: 19 people.
• Lapu-Lapu, Central Visayas, Philippines: 16 people.
• Calero, Central Visayas, Philippines: 14 people.
• Mandaue, Central Visayas, Philippines: 13 people.
• Liloan, Central Visayas, Philippines: 13 people.
• Gabi, Central Visayas, Philippines: 12 people.
• Iloilo, Western Visayas, Philippines: 11 people.

149 Aftershocks detected

Since this main shock, 149 smaller aftershocks were detected. Just 2 days after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-5.3 was detected 18 km (11 mi) south-east of 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.

This is an unusually powerful earthquake

No earthquake of this strength has struck this region for a long time. Our data goes back 10 years, and no earthquakes measuring a magnitude of 6.9 or higher have been detected within 300 km (186 mi) of this epicenter.

Sources

Last updated 29/11/25 06:18 (). 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 us6000rdrz
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20250930_0000201
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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