Quakes jolt Baguio City, North Cotabato

MANILA, Philippines - State seismologists recorded two small earthquakes in North Cotabato and Baguio City yesterday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the magnitudes 2.7 and 2.6 tremors were recorded at 6:10 a.m. and 10:22 a.m., respectively.

The epicenter of the first quake was traced seven kilometers northeast of Carmen, North Cotabato, where it was felt at Intensity 2.

The second quake was located 16 kms southeast of Baguio City where it was felt at Intensity 1.

Last week, Carmen was jolted by a 5.7 quake, which left nine people injured and roads and school buildings damaged.

Forty-eight families living along the ridges of the town’s Sayre Highway were set to be transferred to safer areas. A landslide buried a part of the highway when the quake occurred.

Officials of the Carmen municipal disaster risk reduction and management council said they have started transferring the affected families to a temporary shelter in Barangay Kimadzil, about 15 kms away from the epicenter of the June 1 earthquake.

Carmen Vice Mayor Moises Arendain said the local government has a two-hectare land for the permanent relocation of the 48 families. – Helen Flores, John Unson