No damage, casualty but quake tests drills

Students of Araullo High School in Manila calmly walk out of their classrooms during the quake, apparently learning from past earthquake drills. —RICHARD A. REYES

SAN PEDRO CITY—Students and government workers were sent home while mall goers calmly waited for the shaking to stop as a 6.3-magnitude quake struck parts of Metro Manila and Laguna, Batangas and Cavite provinces, putting to a test earthquake response drills conducted by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

In Sta. Rosa City, Mayor Danilo Fernandez canceled work in government offices and all classes in private and public schools when aftershocks followed the quake which was felt in the city past 1 p.m.

Marian Navarrete, a city hall employee, said all workers of the city government were sent home.

Rommel Palacol of the Laguna Action Center said classes in all levels in all schools were also cancelled.

In Batangas City, Lito Castro, provincial disaster risk reduction and management council officer, said the earthquake was felt at different intensities in the province of Batangas.

He said he was in a mall in Batangas City where people ducked for cover and many others calmly headed for the exits as the ground shook.

 ‘More aware and ready’

Castro said disaster responders in Lian town, the quake’s epicenter, and in Nasugbu were going around to inspect the quake areas.

Earthquake drills conducted by the MMDA nearly a month ago appeared to have come in handy as the agency observed that the public had become “more aware and ready” for the quake.

Jojo Garcia, chief of staff of MMDA chair Danilo Lim, said it appeared that the public was more prepared for the quake, which was felt in Metro Manila, too.

At the MMDA office in Makati City, Garcia said all employees were immediately evacuated and a check of the nearly 50-year-old building that houses the MMDA office was ordered.

Minutes after the quake, Martin Novicio of the MMDA’s disaster response team reminded his colleagues that what they were doing was “not a drill.”

“This is for real. Do the things we have prepared for,” Novicio said.

Garcia said since there were no reports of any casualties or major damage as a result of the quake in Metro Manila, there was no need to convene the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

No damage was reported as of late afternoon Friday.

The quake shook buildings and forced the evacuation of offices and schools.

The US Geological Survey earlier measured the quake at magnitude 6.6. The quake struck at 1:28 p.m., 10.7 km southeast of Nasugbu, in the province of Batangas, at a depth of 168 km.

No tsunami warning was issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, which put the magnitude of the quake at 6.3, and said it expected aftershocks.

The Philippines is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences frequent earthquakes.