TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol –– Flashes of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake came into the mind of Boholanos when a tremor shook parts of Mindanao on Wednesday night.
“I remembered the very strong earthquake and aftershocks in Bohol. I was thinking of my family back home in Baclayon. These made me break down in tears,” said Prince Salamat, a native of Baclayon town in Bohol who now works as a human resource officer in Mindanao.
The tremor in Mindanao happened a day after Boholanos marked the 6th anniversary of the strong quake that hit the province in 2013.
Salamat, 42, was at the Carmen Public Market in Davao Del Norte to buy durian when the earthquake occurred last Wednesday.
“I saw people coming out from the stores screaming and children were crying. I was frozen from where I stood. The bus going to Tagum was moving left and right because of the strong earthquake. Motorcycles fell,” narrated Salamat.
At least five persons died during the Mindanao quake. It prompted several local authorities to suspend classes on Thursday.
As of posting, 246 aftershocks have been recorded in several parts of Mindanao, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. /lzb