Manila, Philippines - The country has not fully recovered yet from the most recent torrential rains & typhoons and last night another terriying event happened off the coast of eastern Samar province which triggered tsunami warnings across our neighbors in Asia.
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that a 7.6-magnitude undersea quake hit Guiuan, Eastern Samar (Latitude: 10.83ºN Longitude: 126.76ºE Depth: 010km). The seismic event shown below indicated that the earthquake struck the place at around 8:47PM on August 31, 2012, Friday.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) initially measured the magnitude at 7.9 but later said that the quake measured at 7.6 in the Richter scale.
Tsunami alert
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued a tsunami alert in the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Guam, Papua New Guinea and the Northern Marianas as soon as the earthquake was detected.
The PTWC said that based on sea level readings, the earthquake generated a tsunami. A 16-centimetre (six-inch) waves hit the eastern Philippines about two hours raising fears that bigger waves were coming.
Several residents were frightened upon seeing objects falling from their cabinets. Hundreds of families on Samar fled and rushed to a hillside carrying their belongings as soon as the alert was raised. Families in Coastal areas fronting the Pacific ocean namely, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur were advised to evacuate the area immediately.
Tsunami warnings in Japan, Taiwan and several Pacific islands were almost immediately lifted. In the Philippines, the alert was lifted after two (2) hours the quake struck.
Philippine authorities said the quake shook large areas of the eastern Philippines, but there were no immediate reports of damage or deaths. “So far there are no casualties reported, but it was felt from the north to the south of the Philippines, on the eastern seaboard,” civil defence chief Benito Ramos told AFP.
Paula Daza, the governor of northern Samar province, one of the areas closest to where the quake struck, said there were reports of damage to infrastructure.
Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), reported that 50-year-old Emilita Ubalde was killed and Adrian Ubalde, 5, was injured in a landslide in Barangay Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City. The landslide occurred after the earthquake.
Total damage caused by the quake is yet to be determined.
Source: phivolcs.dost.gov.ph, PDI news, Philstar news
