The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) has cancelled a tsunami threat it issued earlier on 29 December following a large earthquake near the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao.
#PTWC did not observe #tsunami waves on the sea-level gauges closest to the 7.2 mag. #earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, so there is no longer a tsunami threat from this earthquake.https://t.co/YsXzdRoEkp
— NWS PTWC (@NWS_PTWC) 29 декабря 2018 г.
The United States Geological Survey reported earlier that a major 7.2-magnitude earthquake had struck off south of the Philippines on Saturday. The large earthquake struck off the coast of the Philippines' southern Mindanao island, the US Geological Survey added.
The focus of the earthquake was located at the depth of 49 kilometres. There have been no immediate reports on casualties or damage caused by the quake.
The Pacific Warning Center announced that a tsunami threat exists for parts of the Pacific after the earthquake.
"A tsunami threat exists for parts of the Pacific located closer to the earthquake. However… based on all available data… there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii," the statement read.
READ MORE: Strong 6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Philippines
Earthquakes with magnitude above 7.0 Richter scale are considered major earthquakes. Such an earthquake usually causes damage to most buildings, doing severe damage to many of them. The severe damage is usually limited to 250 kilometres (155.343 miles) from the quake's epicentre. Major earthquakes usually felt across great distances.
