May 23, 1987 Earthquake: Talakag-Malaybalay, Mindanao, Philippines

Name: May 23, 1987 Earthquake: Talakag-Malaybalay, Mindanao, Philippines
Start: 1987-05-23
Location: Talakag-Malaybalay, Mindanao, Philippines

May 23, 1987 · M5.2 · 1 death

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Talakag-Malaybalay, Mindanao, Philippines on May 23, 1987 at 17:09:04 UTC, 32 km below the surface. It killed 1 person.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: May 23, 1987
Time: 17:09:04 UTC
Place: Talakag-Malaybalay, Mindanao, Philippines
Magnitude: 5.2 (Ms)
Magnitude scales: Ms 5.2 · mb 5.1
Focal depth: 32 km (20 mi)
Intensity: II, weak shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 8.047° N, 125.410° E
Country: Philippines
Region: Central and South Pacific
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 2
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

One person was killed, two people injured and damage in the Talakag-Malaybalay area. Felt (II RF) at Cagayan de Oro and (I RF) at Butuan and Surigao. CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 13S, 31C Centroid Location: Origin Time 17:09: 6.4 0.3 Lat 8.09N 0.03 Lon 125.29E 0.05 Dep 29.4 2.7 Half-duration 2.7 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**17 Nm Mrr=-1.78 0.12 Mtt=3.76 0.13 Mff=-1.98 0.20 Mrt=-0.21 0.27 Mrf=1.76 0.26 Mtf=-2.26 0.11 Principal Axes: (T) Val=4.65 Plg=7 Azm=201 (N) Val=-0.68 Plg=52 Azm=300 (P) Val=-3.97 Plg=37 Azm=105 Best Double Couple:Mo=4.3*10**17 NP1:Strike=250 Dip=59 Slip=-157 NP2:Strike=147 Dip=70 Slip=-33

From the USGS event page for usp0003578. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
5.7	Mw, moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.7	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.7	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
#1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1987 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1987 Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5135. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0003578, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.