An earthquake of at least magnitude 5 jolted a central Philippine farming town where a landslide killed more than 1,000 people last year, but no casualties or damage were reported from the quake, officials said Friday.

The earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said measured magnitude 5.6, struck late Thursday, sending residents of St. Bernard township in Southern Leyte hurrying from their beds.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported the magnitude as 5. It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy.

Wary of aftershocks, hundreds waited in open fields before returning home, said Salvador Estudillo, the regional director of the Office of Civil Defense.

"The people there suffer from a bit of trauma, so they all left their homes when the earthquake struck,'' Estudillo said. "But so far we have no reports of casualties or damage.''

The side of a mountain cascaded down onto St. Bernard's Guinsaugon village on Feb. 17, 2006, nearly wiping out the entire village.

Guinsaugon was never rebuilt, but people continued to live near the site.

The Philippine archipelago lies in the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire,'' where earthquakes and volcanic activities are common.