Phivolcs dismisses alarming quake texts in NCotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Local personnel of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Tuesday dismissed as mere speculations circulating text messages warning of more powerful earthquakes in North Cotabato following the discovery of an “underground” volcano in the disaster-stricken Carmen town in the first district of the province.

Carmen, covering 28 barangays, is now under state of calamity after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake on Saturday night damaged school buildings, more than 150 houses, solar dryers and two bridges in the area.

Engineer Renier Amilbahar, chief of Phivolcs office here, said people should ignore text pranks purporting that experts discovered that the earthquake was triggered by an underground volcanic activity.

“What we should be prepared for is possible aftershocks,” Amilbahar told reporters.

Phivolcs staffers have recorded 138 aftershocks in the North Cotabato area since the strong earthquake on Saturday.

Amilbahar said the earthquake last Saturday night, whose epicenter was near the town proper of Carmen, was of tectonic origin.

Amilbahar said circulating text messages warning of more powerful earthquakes were unreliable either.

“We should not circulate text messages meant to cause panic among people. It will not do us any good,” Amilbahar said.

Officials of Philvolcs in Kidapawan City, which is nearer Carmen, also urged residents in North Cotabato to listen only to their advisories announced through local radio stations.

Local officials said 140 families in Carmen were forced to evacuate to safer areas after Saturday night’s tremor damaged their houses.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, who is supervising relief works for villagers displaced by the disaster, said government engineers are still evaluating the damage sustained by two long bridges at portions of the Sayre Highway in Carmen.