Thousands of people in the southern Philippines city of Pagadian fled to higher ground due to tsunami scare after the sea receded following an earthquake, officials said Friday.
Hours after Pagadian was rattled by an earthquake that measured 4.9 on the Richter scale, the sea off the Mindanao island city pulled back to an unusually low level Thursday evening, officials said.
Even though no tsunami warning was issued, some 5,000 frightened residents fled and hurried inland, fearing a repeat of the Dec. 26 tsunamis caused by an 8.7-magnitude quake off Indonesia that devastated Indian Ocean shorelines and killed tens of thousands of people, police and coastguard officials said. Fishing boats also returned to port.
The coast guard said no evacuation order was released but it had warned residents to watch the sea after the earthquake.
In the morning, after the coast guard said the receding of the water was a normal tidal movement and not a sign of a coming tsunami, people began returning home, the officials said.
Residents in Pagadian have strong fear of tsunami after quake- spawned waves measuring as much as 5 meters struck the city and other parts of Mindanao in 1976, leaving some 3,000 dead.