Moderate earthquake hits Philippines islands

A moderate earthquake, measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, hit the Philippine island region at 10.12 am today, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.

It said in a statement that the quake's epicentre was 165km northeast of Surigao City, Philippines and 1,096km northeast of Kinabatangan, Sabah.

The quake did not pose any threat of tsunami, it added.