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

Written by Earthquakelist.org on December 19th, 2025. Last updated January 7th, 2026.

Around noon of Friday December 19th, 2025, a significant M5.1 earthquake hit in the Philippine Sea 67 kilometer from Bislig, The Philippines.

Felt the earthquake? Share this article:

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, 44 kilometers (27 mi) off the coast of The Philippines, 67 kilometer north-east of Bislig in Caraga. The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 65 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Dec 19, 2025 12:02PM (Manila Time) - Dec 19, 2025 04:02 Universal Time.
Location:	67 km NE of Bislig, Caraga, The Philippines. Coordinates 8°36'60"N 126°46'30"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.1 Detected by 129 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.05 .
Depth:	65 km (41 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 Bislig in Caraga, The Philippines. Bislig is located 67 kilometer (42 mi) north-east of the epicenter.

Multiple large cities are in proximity of today's earthquake. Davao is located 214 km to the southwest. Butuan is located 140 km to the west-northwest. Cagayan de Oro is located 234 km to the west.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

9 Aftershocks detected

After this earthquake struck, 9 smaller aftershocks occurred. At a distance of 98 km (61 mi) south of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 1 hr later. It measured a magnitude of 4.8

This main shock was prefaced by 2 smaller foreshocks. Roughly 1 day before this earthquake, a foreshock measuring MAG-3.1 was detected nearby this earthquake.

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.

In only six percent of cases, significant earthquakes are followed by a larger main shock, making the current earthquake a foreshock. While the chance of this happening is not so large, it is adviced to maintain cautiousness in the hours and days following a major 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 November 25th, 2025, when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit 259 km (161 mi) further south-southwest. An even stronger magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck on December 2nd, 2023.

In total, 227 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 16 days.

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 07/01/26 06:18 (). 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 us6000rvwy
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20251219_0000049
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

Share this article: