800 students sent home as 3.4 tremor rocks Cotabato anew

PHOTO FROM Phivolcs

KIDAPAWAN CITY –– A 3.4-magnitude quake that rocked Cotabato province Wednesday, July 24 sent home some 800 students in M’lang town.

The recent tremor was an aftershock of the 5.6-magnitude quake last July 9, said the Earthquake Bulletin of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

The 8:57 a.m. temblor was tectonic in origin and had a depth of six kilometers.

It was located 10 kilometers southwest of Makilala town where it was felt at Intensity 3.

The recorded intensities were as follows:

Intensity 3 in Makilala, Magpet and Kidapawan City, Cotabato;

Intensity 2 in Matalam and Tulunan, Cotabato; and Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

Bernardo Tayong, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer, said school administrators in Nuevabida National High School called off classes when the ground shook.

He said that when they felt the ground shaking, the students rushed out of their classrooms into the open field.

Those holding classes in the covered court also rushed to the open field, he added.

Tayong said at least 14 classrooms that used to host junior and senior high school classes had been abandoned due to cracks on the walls and floors brought by the July 9 quake.

Hence, affected students held classes in the covered court. /lzb