Strong quakes cause damage in Masbate

LEGAZPI CITY — Two strong earthquakes struck Masbate more than five hours apart last Saturday, damaging houses and roads and knocking out power. There were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said yesterday.

The second, stronger temblor, registering an Intensity 6, struck at 7:01 p.m. Saturday and was set off by the movement of the Masbate segment of the Philippine Fault, which runs from the country’s mountainous north to the south, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

It was strong enough to topple old buildings but hit sparsely populated rural areas, said government seismologist Ishmael Narag.

The first quake of Intensity 5 occurred at 1:47 p.m. Saturday.

Damage was reported in the island-province of Masbate, one of at least seven central provinces where the earthquakes were felt. It was initially placed at P5 million.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that the second earthquake caused an empty Muslim day-care center beside a mosque to collapse in Masbate’s capital city, Masbate. The quake also knocked down a number of electric posts, causing power outages in the city, officials said.

"We were watching an HBO movie when we heard this booming sound, then the ground started to shake. Power suddenly went out and we heard people yelling in the neighborhood," fireman Randy Ramos recounted.

Ramos said he and his companions rushed out and prepared their firetrucks, just in time to respond to an explosion of a transformer on an electric post.

In Masbate’s hard-hit town of Dimasalang, the earthquake tore down a wall in the police station, cracked house walls and damaged cement roads, including a newly built one, according to the OCD.

A firetruck slid from an elevated garage, smashed onto a building and tumbled onto its side, said Senior Superintendent Romeo Mapalo, Masbate police director.

The quake also toppled a concrete gate, a wall and a statue of Jose Rizal in a school in Masbate’s Palanas town. Roads were cracked but remained passable, Mapalo said.

In Uson town, three electric posts fell, cutting off electricity, he added.

The Intensity 6 quake’s epicenter was located 26 kilometers east of Masbate, Masbate.

The temblor was felt in this city and in Irosin, Sorsogon at Intensity 5; Palo, Leyte, Naga City and Roxas City, Intensity 4; Metro Cebu, Intensity 3; Anini-y, Antique, Intensity 2; and Lezo and Kalibo in Aklan, Intensity 1.

The quake recorded at 1:47 p.m. last Saturday was felt in Masbate, Masbate (Intensity 5), this city (Intensity 4), Palo, Leyte; Bulusan, Sorsogon and Mandaue City, Cebu (Intensity 3); and Fatima, New Washington, Aklan (Intensity 2).

As of yesterday morning, no injuries or deaths were reported. Police teams, government seismologists and officials were continuing to check possible damages in other Masbate towns, Mapalo said.

The mountainous Philippine archipelago of 7,100 islands sits on at least four major faults, and mild earthquakes are common. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1990 killed nearly 2,000 people on the main island of Luzon. — Felix de los Santos, Celso Amo