2 Pampanga towns felt quake at Intensity VI — Phivolcs

Pampanga province (Image from Google Maps)

MANILA, Philippines — The towns of Porac and Lubao in Pampanga were among the areas that felt the magnitude 6.1 quake that shook Luzon on Monday at its strongest — at Intensity VI, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Undersecretary Renato Solidum, Phivolcs director, said, however, that the agency still had to check the situation in Castillejos, Zambales, where the epicenter of the quake was located.

“[The strongest intensities are] were felt in Porac and Lubao,” Solidum, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview with DZMM Teleradyo. “So far, we don’t know what happened in Castillejos.”

“There were parts of Porac and Lubao that felt it at Intensity VI — not the entire towns. The reports did not cover the whole towns. They were just spot reports,” he added.

When Phivolcs released its initial report about the tectonic earthquake, the highest intensity was set at Intensity V — which was felt in the following areas:

• San Felipe in Zambales
• Malolos and Obando in Bulacan
• Magalang in Pampanga
• Abucay in Bataan
• Lipa in Batangas
• Manila and Quezon City in Metro Manila

READ: Magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes parts of Luzon

But as reports poured in about the structural damage in Lubao and Porac, where parts of a mall and a church reportedly collapsed, Solidum said Phivolcs raised its intensity rating in those towns.

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