Bohol quake felt in much of Mindanao

Graphic locating Bohol island in the Philippines where a revised 7.1-magnitude quake struck on Tuesday morning.

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte—Tuesday’s magnitude-7.2 earthquake in Bohol  also shook the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Cagayan de Oro City, this city and parts of the Davao provinces.

The quake was felt at Intensity III in these places. However, no damage was immediately reported as of 10:30 a.m., even after about six moderately strong aftershocks recorded by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology were also felt.

In Plaridel, Misamis Occidental,  Jed Mutos, a retired Army officer, told the Inquirer in a telephone intervciew that he was tending his fishfarm when the tremor occurred.

Mutos said he thought the dikes of his fishpond  would collapse and that the water looked like it was being stirred by a giant hand.

“The earth was shaking so hard,” he said.

The Bohol quake was the second tremor felt in Mindanao on Tuesday after a mild 1 a.m. jolt in San Benito in Surigao del Norte. A magnitude 4.1 tremor shook Mati in Davao Oriental and nearby areas on Monday.

Quakes regularly occur in the Philippines and other places within the so-called Pacific ring of fire.