An moderate earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.1 struck near the northern Philippine islands of Batan on Friday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The USGS reported the quake struck at 2:12 am local time (1812 GMT on Thursday) about 98 kilometers (61 miles) southwest of the Baton capital of Basco. Its depth was 14 kilometres beneath the surface.
The 5.1 reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale, now used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.
