By
Jigger J. Jerusalem
CAGAYAN
DE ORO CITY, April 12 (PNA) – Several properties were damaged as a Magnitude 6
earthquake jolted parts of Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur provinces early Wednesday
morning.
Initial
reports coming from the local governments of Wao in Lanao del Sur and Kalilangan
in Bukidnon said residential structures and public buildings were damaged by
the tremor that struck at around 5:21 a.m. on Wednesday. One person was
reported slightly injured.
The
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) first reported
the earthquake’s epicenter in Kalilangan but later changed it to Wao.
Francis
Garcia, chief of the Wao Municipal Disaster and Risk Reduction Management
Office (MDRRMO), said in a phone interview Wednesday morning that based on
their initial assessment, about 30 houses were partially damaged in the
villages of West Kili-kili, Extension Poblacion, Serran, Panang and Balatin.
In
Panang, two mosques were damaged while a portion of the national highway had
slight cracks.
The
walls of some buildings at the Kili-kili National High School also cracked due
to the quake, which Phivolcs said was of tectonic origin.
Panang
barangay chairman Arsenio Delos Reyes said in an interview that 40-year-old
Jorie Sagon was slightly wounded when a hollowblock fell on her right foot.
Garcia
said the people went back to their homes after the earthquake, except for the
families living in four houses made of light materials, who temporarily sought
shelter at their relatives.
In
Kalilangan, the municipal government building was damaged.
Jennie
Tamano, Lanao del Sur provincial information officer, said the quake also
caused power outages across the province. Electricity was restored later in the
morning.
Tamano
said patients in the upper floor of a still unnamed hospital were evacuated to
the ground floor when the tremor started.
Based
on the Phivolcs report, the earthquake at Wao and Kalilangan was felt at
Intensity 7.
Intensity
4 was felt in Cagayan de Oro City, Cotabato City, Gingoog City in Misamis
Oriental, Matalam in North Cotabato and Davao City.
