At least five people died in Sunday’s magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Padada and outlying rural towns, cities and provinces in a region that has been battered by three deadly earthquakes in recent months. A child died after being hit by a collapsed wall in her house and a woman in her 70s died from a heart attack during the quake, officials said. Several shoppers managed to dash out of the building, which housed a grocery store, as the ground shook, including a number who were escorted out with injuries. A total of 84 people were injured in the quake, officials said. The Philippine archipelago lies on the so-called Pacific “Ring of fire,” an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 16, 2019 08:03 UTC