A magnitude 6.5 earthquake on Thursday struck the eastern Philippines, but there were no immediate reports of damages or casualties, government scientists said. According to dpa, the epicentre of the tremor was located near the town of Jaro in Leyte province, about 558 kilometres south-east of Manila, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. "We are expecting damages and aftershocks," Linel Villalobos, a research assistant at the institute, told Manila radio station DZMM. "There is no tsunami threat." Villalobos said the earthquake was felt at the strongest intensity of 5 in the nearby cities of Tacloban, Palo and Cebu.
