Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao quakes not related – Phivolcs

MANILA, Philippines — The earthquakes that struck Zambales in Luzon, Eastern Samar in Visayas, and Davao Oriental and Davao Occidental in Mindanao over the last three days were not related, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said Wednesday.

On Monday, Zambales was hit by a magnitude 6.1 quake. On Tuesday, Eastern Samar was hit by a magnitude 6.5 quake. On Wednesday, Davao Oriental was hit by a magnitude 4.7 quake and Davao Occidental by a magnitude 3.7 quake.

These series of events led many to believe that there was a Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao earthquake pattern.

Phivolcs science research analyst Nolan Evangelista debunked this, however, and said that the three earthquakes were unrelated to each other.

“If there is movement in the north, it’s not related sa central and Mindanao area,” Evangelista told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

“Each fault in the country has different characteristics from other faults. There is no relationship,” he added partly in Filipino.

Evangelista explained that the three earthquakes belonged to different active faults — the Zambales quake was due to a local fault near Pampanga, while the Eastern Samar and Davao Occidental quakes were due to movements in two different segments of the Philippine Trench.

“[The Philippine Trench] is composed of different segments. So if you have segments A, B, C, Davao is C while Central Visayas is B. So they are still different,” Evangelista said.

He said that the aftershocks following the Zambales, Eastern Samar, and Davao Occidental quakes are the only ones related to them.

“Earthquakes are normal because the Philippines is seismically active. We are within the Ring of Fire, like Indonesia and Japan. Every now and then there are earthquake activities,” Evangelista said.

He advised the public to avoid spreading false information on social media — such as the geographical pattern of earthquakes and an alleged magnitude 8.0 earthquake that will hit Metro Manila.

“They should not share false information on social media because it triggers panic among people. Rely on Phivolcs when it comes to information about earthquakes here in the Philippines,” Evangelista said.

/atm