Parts of northern Samar, Leyte hit by tremor

TACLOBAN CITY—A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck parts of Leyte and Northern Samar provinces on Monday morning, two days after Batangas province in Luzon was jolted by a strong tremor.

Myra Dolina of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) based in Palo town, Leyte, said the earthquake struck at 8:43 a.m. with the epicenter located in Mapanas, a coastal town in Northern Samar some 250 kilometers away from here.

A Phivolcs bulletin said the quake was felt at Intensity III in Palapag and Intensity II in Catarman, both in Northern Samar; and Intensity I in Palo and Tacloban City, both in Leyte.

Dolina, in a telephone interview, said the quake, which she described as shallow, was not expected to cause any destruction.

“And so far, we have not [recorded] any aftershocks,” Dolina said.

Teresa Minguev, municipal disaster risk reduction manager of Mapanas, said their monitoring showed the quake did not cause any damage.

“It was just so quick that people did not even feel the earthquake,” she said.