Earthquake rocks northern Philippines, no damages

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck off the northern Philippines on Sunday, shaking the capital Manila and northern provinces, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.

No tsunami warning was raised, but aftershocks were expected, the government''s volcanology and seismology institute said.

The quake, centered 122 kms (75 miles) northeast of Laoag City on the main Philippine island of Luzon, was at a depth of 39 kms (24 miles) at 4:26 pm (0826 GMT), the institute said in a revised report on its website http:www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph

The institute had initially reported the quake at 6.4 magnitude.

"It's quite big, so we are calling and checking on islands in the north, but there are no reports of damage yet," Ismael Narag, officer in charge of the seismology department at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told Reuters.

The tremor came nine days after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan and triggered a 10-metre tsunami that devastated its northeast coastal region.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1990 in northern Philippines killed more than 1,600 people.