4.4 magnitude earthquake hits north Philippines; schools shut

A moderately strong earthquake struck Thursday near a northern Philippine mountain city home to hundreds of thousands of people, forcing people out of buildings and shutting down schools, officials said.

The government seismology office earlier put the magnitude at 4.8 and said it was "expecting damage", but subsequently lowered the figure to 4.4.

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Employees rushed out of office buildings in the city of 366,000 following the shallow quake which occurred at 10:30 am (0230 GMT), 10 days after a powerful quake killed more than 70 people in the central Philippines, residents told AFP by telephone.

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"We're going to check for damage," building administrator Ralph Cabuag told AFP as more than 300 employees and patients filed out of the three-storey Baguio city health office.

Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong shut down the city's elementary and high schools, the city public information office said on its Facebook page.

The state seismology office said the epicentre was located in the town of Pugo, near Baguio.

A 7.8 quake in July 1990 killed some 1,600 people in and around Baguio, a city located atop a mountain range that is also one of the country's top tourist draws.