Earthquake hits near Philippines

(CNN) - A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean off the northern Philippines Sunday morning and was felt as far as southeastern Taiwan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter was about 50 miles west of Basco, the capital of the Batan Islands in the Philippines and about 340 miles south of Taipei, Taiwan.

No injuries, fatalities or damage were immediately reported, said Manny Torres of the National Disaster Coordinating Center in Manila, Philippines. The center put the earthquake at a 6.3 magnitude.

The Philippines an archipelagic nation in Southeast Asia made up of 7,107 islands. Earthquakes have rattled the region off and on, sometimes with deadly consequences.

A 7.7-magnitude quake killed 1,621 people in Luzon in July 1990. And in August 1976, 8,000 people died in a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Mindanao.