Earthquake in Cebu City

Around noon today there was an earthquake in the city of Cebu, Philippines.

As I was drinking my mid morning cup of coffee, I suddenly noticed that the contents of the glass of water that was on the table began to shake from one side to another.

Never having experienced anything near this, I froze and felt the ground shaking under me. Next, everyone in the coffee shop I was in began to get up and gather their belongings before going outside of the store.

I did the same thing and got up as the ground continued to shake under me. I later find out through the news that it was a six-point-nine quake that struck the city, which raised an alert of tsunami and leaving one person deceased.

As all of this went on, I suddenly got a flashback of me laughing when the pastor of our church mentioned he had the church structure constructed in a way which was earthquake-proof. I laughed cuz everyone knows there are no earthquakes in Cebu. 'Till now...

It turns out the quake originated from a tectonic plate and struck five km north west of Tayasan, Negros Oriental. Four after shocks followed the main quake with magnitudes which measured between four and a half to five point eight Phivolcs.

Level two tsunami alert was raised in Cebu and Negros, which warned coastal area residents to go towards higher ground. This means that the people who live near the coast need to be observant of sea levels that are rising.

A province in the Philippines, Cebu consists of an island and one hundred sixty-seven islands surrounding. It is located on Negros' east to the west of Bohol and Leyte islands.

A long island, Cebu stretches two hundred twenty-five km from the northern to the southern portions including Camotes Islands, Olango, Malapascua, Bantayan and Mactan. With coastlines that are narrow, there are coastal plains and limestone plateus.

There are ruggest mountainous ranges and rolling hills throughout the north and south portions of the island. In the city of Bogo, there are flat land tracts as well as in the town of Daanbantayan, Medellin and San Remigio.

The highest mounts are a thousand meters highs. Cebu City is the capital which is also the Philippines' oldest city, forming part of the CebuMetropolitanArea along with 4 neighbor cities including Talisay, Mandaue, Lapu Lapu and Danao as well as 8 other municipalities.

The 2nd busiest Philippine airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport is located on the island of Mactan.