CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The movement of a still unnamed fault line near Maramag, Bukidnon, triggered a series of quakes, the strongest of which was measured at magnitude 5.6, which shook several areas including this city and the provinces of North Cotabato and Misamis Oriental.
A woman was injured and several houses in at least two villages in Valencia City were damaged.
The new quake occurred as aftershocks of the 7.6-magnitude quake that struck off the coast of Eastern Samar continued in Eastern Visayas and Surigao del Norte.
No damages or injuries were reported in the aftershocks, said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Phivolcs said the new quake traced to the fault line in Mailag was monitored at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Three hours earlier, the fault line generated a 5.6-magnitude quake that was felt in Cotabato City.
Disaster response officials in Northern Mindanao said a resident of Barangay Lourdes in Valencia City suffered slight injuries as a result of the quake. Seven houses collapsed and 65 were damaged.
Marcial Labininay, officer in charge of Phivolcs in Northern Mindanao, said the other fault lines in the region have not moved.
Janila De Ocampo, officer in charge of Phivolcs in Southern Mindanao, said the unnamed Bukidnon fault line caused seven quakes since Monday, but the strongest was the one recorded at magnitude 5.6.
De Ocampo said the movement of the earth’s fault lines was a normal occurrence.
She said, however, that quakes generated by the fault lines vary in intensity and direction of movement.
“When so much stress is accumulated by the fault lines, the quake becomes stronger,” De Ocampo said.
On Aug. 16, 1976, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 was generated by the Cotabato Trench under the Moro Gulf.
An estimated 8,000 people were killed by the quake and a tsunami that generated waves of up to 15-feet high.
Populated areas along a 700-kilometer stretch of coastlines in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Cotabato City had been destroyed. Cai Panlilio and Dennis Santos, Inquirer Mindanao