4.5-magnitude earthquake sends Baguio children home

BAGUIO City experienced a five-second jolt, measured initially as intensity 5 at 3:15 p.m. yesterday, according to the Office of Civil Defense. Schoolchildren of the University of Baguio Elementary School were immediately sent home. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Classes in some elementary schools here were cut short on Monday afternoon after a 4.5-magnitude earthquake shook the city at 3:16 p.m.

Reports from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Cordillera said information relayed by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology showed that the earthquake’s epicenter was located 13 kilometers southeast of Baguio.

The OCD said the earthquake was felt at intensity 5 in Baguio and at intensity 2 in La Union.

Electric wires in Baguio swayed as the ground shook for at least five seconds.

The OCD had not received any report of earthquake-related casualty or damage at 3:30 p.m.

Students at the University of Baguio Laboratory Elementary School (UBLES) rushed out of their classrooms as the ground started to shake. Their parents gathered at the school gate to take them home minutes after the quake struck.

UBLES officials, the parents said, allowed the children to go home early. Their classes would have ended at 4:30 p.m.

Students in other elementary schools in the city were also allowed to go home early. Inquirer Northern Luzon