GEOSTATISTICAL AND CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF EARTHQUAKES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Abstract. The Philippine region is one of the most natural hazard-prone areas. Hazards from an earthquake event, or seismic hazards, may be addressed with the analysis of the previous occurrences across the country. This was performed by analyzing earthquake hot spots or clusters using geostatistical methods such as Getis-Ord Gi* and Anselin Local Moran's I. This study mapped the earthquake events per magnitude from 1975 to 2019, and determined the hot spots, and its patterns across the Philippine region. It also compared the results of a prediction output from a 2016 study, and performed a quick temporal analysis of the earthquakes from 1975 to 2019. This study was able to determine the earthquake hot spots, mostly in the southern provinces, and with most of which lie along the major trenches.