A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Philippines on Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake struck in northern Luzon, the country's most populous island, at 8:43 a.m. local time, according to USGS. The agency originally designated the quake 7.1-magnitude, before downgrading it to 7.0.
Its epicenter was about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of the small town of Dolores, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to USGS.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or deaths from the quake.
The shallow but powerful quake struck the mountainous and lightly populated province of Abra on the main island of Luzon at 8:43 am (0043 GMT), the USGS said, after initially measuring the quake at 6.8 magnitude.
Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones.
In Dolores, which felt the full force of the quake, terrified people ran outside their buildings and windows of the local market were shattered, Police Major Edwin Sergio told AFP.
Abra, home to nearly 250,000 people, is a landlocked province in the northern Philippines. Its deep valleys and sloping hills are enclosed by rugged mountains.
Pacific Ring of Fire
The Philippines is regularly rocked by quakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: specifically the movement, collision and destruction of lithospheric plates under and around the Pacific Ocean.
The collisions have created a nearly continuous series of subduction zones, where volcanoes are created and earthquakes occur. Consumption of oceanic lithosphere at these convergent plate boundaries has formed oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, back-arc basins and volcanic belts.
Wednesday's quake was the strongest recorded in the Philippines in years.
In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Bohol Island in the central Philippines, killing over 200 people and triggering landslides.
