A magnitude 6.4 earthquake damaged a century-old church belfry when it struck the northern Philippines on Tuesday evening.

The tremors hit Bangued town in Abra province, destroying part of the Nuestra Señora de La Paz parish of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente on October 25.

Photos and video show chunks of the religious building scattered across the ground after the quake caused it to partially crumble.

The structure was constructed in the 1890s, and is recognised by the Philippine government as a cultural heritage site in the province.

It had also sustained damage in another earthquake in Abra last July.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the earthquake struck at a depth of 28 kilometres in Tineg, Abra at 10:59 pm local time on Tuesday.

The quake has triggered suspensions in school and government work in neighbouring Ilocos Norte province.

Local media has reported damage to infrastructure, but no casualties have been reported so far.

Abra province was also the epicentre of a devastating magnitude 7 earthquake that struck last July 27.

The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands inside the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' where the majority of Earth's volcano eruptions and earthquakes happen.