Batangas town hit by Magnitude 4.0 quake; Phivolcs points to Taal Volcano as cause

MANILA, Philippines – A Magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded in the Agoncillo town in Batangas on Monday night, the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in its bulletin.

Phivolcs said that the tectonic movement was located six kilometers northwest of Agoncillo, at a depth of 10 kilometers.  Intensity III was felt in Tagaytay City, while Intensity II was also felt as far as Malabon City.

Instrumental Intensities were also felt in Tagaytay City (Intensity III).

Benz Rodriguez, Phivolcs’ science research assistant said in a radio interview with DZMM on Tuesday morning said that while the earthquake was tectonic of origin, it may be still related to the activity at the Taal Volcano, especially since Agoncillio is just 10 to 15 kilometers away from the crater.

“So far po ‘yon po ang pwede nating mai-associate dito sa lindol na ito, possible po na associated ito sa ongoing activity sa Taal Volcano,” Rodriguez said.  “Dito sa monitoring, kada minuto may mga narerecord kami na mga lindol na associated doon sa nangyayari na activity sa Taal, so so far pwede nating sabihin na tuloy-tuloy po ang mga lindol na ito.

(So far po we can associate the earthquakes to the Taal Volcano’s activity, it is possibly associated with the volcano.  In our monitoring, every minute we are recording earthquakes associated with Taal, so we can say that the movements would continue.)

Rodriguez said that Phivolcs’ monitoring systems show that the number of earthquakes caused by Taal Volcano’s activity still has not decreased.

“Tinitignan pa natin kung hanggang kailan, kung nagte-taper na ba ‘yong numbers no’ng mga lindol na nangyayari.  Pero for now almost the same pa rin ‘yong numbers na nare-record na mga lindol malapit sa Taal,” he added

(We are monitoring until when the earthquakes would occur, whether they are already tapering off.  But for now, the number of earthquakes recorded near Taal Volcano are the same.)

After the Magnitude 4.0 earthquake in Agoncillo, which officially clocked in at 11:39 p.m. of Monday, nine other earthquakes were recorded in Batangas towns like Laurel, Talisay, and Mataas na Kahoy.

The latest movement, a Magnitude 2.9 quake in Agoncillo last 12:57 a.m., was labeled as volcanic.

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