There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage after the quake was recorded at 3:55 am (1955 GMT Monday), an officer of the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said.

"Possible source is a local fault southeast of Batanes and our computer captured the magnitute at 4.4 intensity," the officer said.

"We have not received any report of damages but we were told there were only mild aftershocks felt in Batanes," he said.

The Hong Kong Observatory reported earlier that the quake in the Batanes area, 660 kilometers (more than 400 miles) north of Manila, had measured 5.3 on the Richter scale.

TERRA.WIRE