Five people were killed Wednesday and at least 60 others were injured when an earthquake rocked a northern province in the Philippines.
The 7.0 magnitude quake occurred in the mountainous province of Abra on the country’s most populous island of Luzon. The incident, which was felt in the capital city of Manila 200 miles away, triggered multiple landslides and led to the collapse of some homes and nearby buildings, according to the Associated Press.
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The victims largely died in collapsed structures. One villager in Abra died after being hit in the head by a falling cement slab in his own house. In a nearby province, a worker died after a building collapsed on him in the mountain town of La Trinidad, according to the outlet.
One photojournalist almost died during the quake after boulders were heard tumbling down a nearby hill. Photojournalist Harley Palangchao managed to get a photograph of boulders that grazed the car in front of him.
“I was thinking there should be at least a record if something happened to us,” Palangchao told the outlet. “It was a horrific experience.”
Wednesday’s quake was the strongest in years despite being downgraded from its initial 7.3 magnitude to 7.0 after further analysis, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. A magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.
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The quake was set off by movement in a local fault, the institute said, with more damage and aftershocks expected.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has only been in office for one month, is expected to visit Abra on Thursday to meet with the victims.
