The Philippines, located on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, is brutally familiar with natural disasters. However, the tremor that struck on Tuesday, September 30, has proven to be the most lethal the nation has encountered since at least 2013.
A massive 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurred shortly before 10 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. BST), as reported by Philippine seismologists, off the coast of Bogo City (population 90,000) in the island province of Cebu, located in the central region of the archipelagic Southeast Asian nation. Compounding the crisis, a minor volcanic eruption followed, and now a typhoon is set to batter the region—a devastating trifecta of natural fury.
