SURIGAO CITY—The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Monday dismissed rumors that another big earthquake would hit this city.
“I ask residents not to spread these speculations,” appealed Renato Solidum, Phivolcs chief, in a live phone-patch interview with a local radio station here.
Solidum said his office had been flooded with numerous panic calls from Surigao residents telling him about Facebook posts that a magnitude-7.4 earthquake would hit the city anew.
Solidum said the information may have been taken from a primer on the Phivolcs website that said the last strong tremor, at magnitude 7.4, that struck Surigao was in 1879. It was generated from the Surigao segment of Philippine fault, considered the largest historical earthquake in this area.
“We don’t discount the possibility but the chances are remote,” Solidum said.
Now on their third night, hundreds of residents from the coastal villages of the city, fearing tsunami in case another quake strikes, continue to camp out at the provincial grounds which is located on an elevation. RAM/rga
RELATED STORIES