MANILA, Philippines - As Metro Manila and nearby areas were being battered by torrential rains, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocked parts of Luzon yesterday, state seismologists said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the tremor occurred at around 1:03 p.m. with its epicenter traced at 48 kilometers northwest of Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.
The quake was felt at Intensity 3 in Lubang; Intensity 2 in Pasay City, Sampaloc in Manila, Clark in Pampanga and Olongapo City; and Intensity 1 in Quezon City.
“The intensity of the quake is not enough to trigger landslides,” Jane Punongbayan, Phivolcs supervising science research specialist, told radio station dzBB.
“Earthquakes felt at Intensity 6 or 7 are the ones that could induce landslides,” she said.
On Feb. 17, 2006, continuous rains saturated the ground, triggering a landslide in Barangay Guinsaugon in Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte that killed 154 people.
Typhoon “Edeng,” on July 10, 2000, triggered a landslide at the Payatas dump in Quezon City, killing more than 200 people.
In August 1999, rains brought by typhoon “Ising” triggered a landslide in Cherry Hills, Antipolo, Rizal, leaving 54 people dead.