Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake Hit in Mindanao, Philippines

- Time: 2024-02-01 at 21:35:38 UTC
             2024-02-02 at 05:35:38 GMT-8
- Location: 8.18° LAT, 126.93° LON
- Magnitude: Mww5.1
- Depth: 59 km
- Provider: USGS, USGS_Quakes

Picture 1: Location of the magnitude 5.1 earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines.

The earthquake occurred in an area where we announced HIGH seismic hazard exposure (orange alert) in our latest weekly earthquake forecast for the Indonesia region, on January 29, 2024, available here.

Picture 2: Latest earthquake forecast for the Indonesia region, posted on January 29, 2024.

The earthquake occurred due to the rotational singularity (marked with a yellow ellipse) that is present in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia regions. We posted about it on January 29, 2024, and is accessible here.

Rotational singularity can occur when the fault planes are "infinitely" close to each other or the theoretically infinite shear- and normal tractions are associated with finite (micro)rotations within infinitely small regions (volumes of rocks). In practice, this happens when tectonic waves with low Cosserat lengths (generally) interact with each other within a region. Its shape can be elongated (like e.g. before the Great Noto Earthquake in Japan) or circular.

Picture 3: Quantectum's models showing rotational singularity and higher earthquake-triggering in the Philippines.

According to the initial seismic data, the earthquake is not expected to have caused significant damage but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter. Weak shaking might have been felt in Lingig (pop. 6,400) located 69 km from the epicenter, Bislig City (pop. 67,600) 79 km away, Baganga (pop. 10,100) 80 km away, Hinatuan (pop. 10,100) 82 km away, and Monkayo (pop. 51,400) 113 km away, as reported by the VolcanoDiscovery.

* The exact information about the magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the earthquake might be revised within the next few hours as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other data providers issue their reports.
** The information provided is a product of Quantectum's own system, please tag Quantectum when sharing it. For more detailed information, contact us by email.