An employee points at a graph registered by a seismograph. Olivier Morin, AFP/File  

MANILA — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Wednesday denied warning that a strong earthquake would supposedly strike next week.

“Wag pong magpakalat ng fake news. Maraming nagtatanong sa amin totoo ba yung April 22 magkaroon ng malakas na lindol. Hindi po ‘yan totoo,” Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said.

Earthquakes are “random events” and there is no technology that can predict exactly when and where they would hit, Bacolcol noted in a TeleRadyo interview.

“‘Wag po silang maniwala agad sa nababasa nila sa Facebook, social media,” he urged the public. 

Earthquakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive quakes come at random. 

Magnitude 5.7 quake hits off Sarangani

“We have to prepare… Every now and then may paglindol talaga,” Bacolcol said.