5 people have died following a strong earthquake in Northern Philippines.
Dozens of people also got injured following the earthquake which occurred on Wednesday.
Patients at the hospital in the capital were evacuated while terrified people rushed outdoors.
The 7-magnitude quake was centred in a mountainous area of Abra province, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, who described the midmorning shaking as a major earthquake.
“The ground shook like I was on a swing and the lights suddenly went out. We rushed out of the office, and I heard screams and some of my companions were in tears,” declared Michael Brillantes, a safety officer of the Abra town of Lagangilang, near the epicenter.
“It was the most powerful quake I’ve felt and I thought the ground would open up,” Brillantes told The Associated Press by cellphone.
In 1990, a magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines.
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