Another strong earthquake, measuring magnitude-6.5, rattled several areas in Mindanao yesterday, killing five people, injuring several others, and destroyed buildings that were already damaged by two previous tremors.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded the tremor at around 9:11 a.m. and originated 28 kilometers northeast of Tulunan, Cotabato. It was registered two days after an earthquake measuring magnitude-6.6 hit the region last Tuesday.
Yesterday’s temblor occurred at a shallow depth of six kilometers, causing the strong shaking.
The magnitude-6.5 earthquake was felt at Intensity 7 as a “destructive” tremor in Tulunan, Cotabato; Kidapawan City, and Sta. Cruz, Matanao, Bansalan, and Magsaysay, Davao del Sur. It was felt as a “very strong” tremor at Intensity 6 in Tampakan, South Cotabato.
General Santos City, Tupi, South Cotabato; and Isulan, Sultan Kudarat felt the earthquake as a “strong” tremblor at Intensity 5. It was felt at Intensity 4 or “moderately strong” tremor in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat.
Phivolcs’ instruments measured the earthquake at Intensity 5 in Malungon, Sarangani; Intensity 4 in Kiamba and Alabel in Sarangani, and Koronadal City; and Intensity 3 in Gingoog City and Cagayan de Oro City.
At least nine persons were injured when the Himeji Building of Ecoland Residence 4000 condominium owned by property developer DMCI Holdings on Eco West Drive in Davao City, which is about 45 kilometers from the epicenter, collapsed following yesterday’s earthquake.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said that eight residents were treated by the responders on-site while one injured was brought to the hospital.
Mayor Duterte said the City Engineer’s Office had advised the building administrator Wednesday to condemn structure as it sustained major cracks after the destructive earthquake last Oct. 29.
Five of the injured were identified as Catley Ubas, 27; Naser Enog, 27; Baswil Ledya, 60; Ledy Nortate, 60; and Park Jung O, a Korean, 61.
Rescuers had launched a search to determine if residents might be trapped inside, police said. Six vehicles inside the condominium compound were destroyed.
The building has 56 rooms but 15 only units were occupied during the earthquake.
Several cities and towns in the quake-hit area suspended school classes and office work due to fear of more tremors.
Many residents may have returned to already-damaged houses despite the risks because of the humid tropical heat, causing some injuries due to falling debris, officials said.
A barangay hall collapsed in Barangay Batasan, Makilala, Cotabato and the barangay chairman was pinned to death, Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said.
Another man was pinned to death by a fallen tree and a woman died after being hit by heavy debris elsewhere in Makilala, government welfare officer Rosemarie Alcebar said.
Two other residents died due to quake-related injuries in Arakan, Cotabato but details of their deaths were not immediately available, Alcebar said.
In Kidapawan City, Cotabato, a small hotel – Eva’s Hotel – partially collapsed, crushing the lobby and a bank on the ground floor and causing the building to lean on an adjacent hospital.
Both the hotel and the hospital were ordered abandoned because of the previous quake damage but six employees and an engineer were inside Eva’s Hotel when the ground shook at midmorning, Mayor Joseph Evangelista said.
“They’re supposed to inspect the building with an engineer then it happened. They managed to run out,” Evangelista told DZMM radio.
The hospital and the hotel, its concrete columns precariously leaning and its rooms exposed without walls and windows, were cordoned off as they may collapse completely anytime.
Locals have been left terrified by the string of powerful quakes, and hundreds of aftershocks since the first powerful tremor struck on Oct. 16.
“Everyone rushed outside,” said Tulunan Mayor Reuel Limbungan, which was once again near the epicenter. “It was as strong as the previous one.”
Mindanao has been devastated by two powerful earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks this month.
Hundreds of families on Mindanao island, which makes up the southern third of the Philippines, have been living in shelters because they are afraid to go home.
At least eight people died in last Tuesday’s 6.6-magnitude quake, two were missing, 395 were injured, and more than 2,700 houses and buildings, including schools and hospitals, were damaged, according to the Office of Civil Defense.
The Oct. 16 quake which with magnitude-6.3 killed at least seven people, injured more than 200, and destroyed or damaged more than 7,000 buildings.
The Philippine archipelago lies on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Phivolcs continues to remind the public of possible tremors in the next several days or weeks and said the earthquake is still “part of a sequence of events from interrelated faults in the region.”
Phivolcs pointed out that Central Mindanao, which includes Cotabato, is one of the seismically active regions in the country because of the presence of several active faults in the area. These faults include the M’lang Fault, Makilala-Malungon Fault, North Columbio Fault, South Columbio Fault, and the western extension of the Mindanao Fault or the Cotabato-Sindangan Fault.
Cotabato Trench is also a major source of earthquakes which can affect the region. In addition, there are other nearby local faults, some of which may be covered by recent deposits, and could be sources of small to strong magnitude earthquakes. The Oct. 16 quake was found to have been generated by the northwest trending strike-slip fault in Tulunan.
Strike-slip faults are vertical fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally. (AP, AFP, Malu Cadelina Manar, Zea Capistrano, Ellalyn V. Ruiz, and Antonio Colina IV)
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