An official reported that a 6.8-magnitiude earthquake killed at least 12 people after striking the third largest island in the Philippines on Monday. The earthquake hit the island of Negros around 11:49 a.m. (10:49 p.m. Sunday ET). National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Curz Jr. reported that two school girls were killed when the walls of their school collapsed on them. Several shocks ranging from 5.2 to 6.0 continued to shake the area into the night hours on Monday.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a level 2 tsunami, then after further observation, lifted the warning. The earthquake took place in the ocean at a depth of 46.6 kilometers or 29 miles, reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Philippines is located in the Ring of Fire, which is an arc of fault lines surrounding the Pacific Basin that is prone to recurrent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
