UPDATE: The Tsunami warning has been cancelled. We seemed to have dodged a bullet it. Philippes is just recovering from some terrible floods, so this is very very welcome news.
A massive earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines at 12:47 UTC today. The recorded magnitude by the United States Geological Survey is 7.6, which is a major, major quake.
There are Tsunami warnings in effect for much of the Pacific region, including the Philippines and Indonesia. Warnings for Japan and Hawaii have been cancelled.
From the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center:
IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN STRIKE COASTLINES IN THE REGION NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES TO HOURS. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL GAUGES NEAREST THE REGION AND REPORT IF ANY TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY IS OBSERVED. THE WARNING WILL NOT EXPAND TO OTHER AREAS OF THE PACIFIC UNLESS ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED TO WARRANT SUCH AN EXPANSION.
We’ll update this post when we know more.