UPDATED MANILA, Philippines — Classes at all levels in the provinces of Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte are suspended Thursday following a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Mindanao.
An earthquake struck the province at 6:44 p.m. Wednesday, with its epicenter located 9 kilometers southeast of the town of Compostela
READ: Magnitude 6 earthquake rocks New Bataan town in Davao de Oro
Through a memorandum order, Governor Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga called off in-person classes for both public and private schools in Davao de Oro “until further notice or when [the] suspension is lifted” by authorities.
This, Gonzaga noted, is “to ensure the safety and security of pupils, students, including teaching and non-teaching personnel pending a structural integrity assessment of all buildings by the Department of Education in coordination with the local government units (LGUs).”
Work in all government offices, except in the frontline offices of the provincial LGU that will respond to disaster-hit areas and attend to the needs of municipalities if necessary, are likewise suspended.
Gonzaga, who is concurrently the chairperson of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council, said other national agencies in the province can also follow her memorandum order to ensure the safety of their employees.
They are likewise urged to coordinate with their LGUs in conducting structural integrity assessments, she added.
Governor Edwin Jubahib, in a memorandum order, similarly suspended classes at all levels in Davao del Norte “to give way for the conduct of safety inspections of all school buildings, both public and private, as part of precautionary measure and standard safety protocol.”
In a bulletin, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said aftershocks and damage are expected from the inland quake.
The tremor, which was tectonic in origin, registered up to Intensity V on both reported and instrumental intensity scales, Phivolcs added.
State seismologists, however, ruled out the possibility of a tsunami, noting that the earthquake’s magnitude was “not enough.”