TIMELINE: Most destructive earthquakes to hit the Philippines since 1990

This story was first published on July 27, 2022. Due to recent events, we are republishing it with updated information.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is an earthquake-prone country because of its geographic and geologic settings, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

This is because the country lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) describes as an area where the Pacific Plate meets many surrounding tectonic plates. The collision of these plates makes the Ring of Fire the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world.

As a result, the Philippines has numerous active faults and trenches that have generated strong earthquakes.

But higher-magnitude tremors do not always cause more destruction. Factors like depth, local geology, population density, and construction quality affect the overall impact of an earthquake, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.