Aftershocks, often just minutes apart, shook the towns around the epicenter of the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that hit Bukidnon late Monday night.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) listed in its website a total of 71 aftershocks since the major quake documented at 10:38 p.m. the night before.
Based on PHIVOLCS’s Earthquake Information No. 3 on the magnitude 5.7 quake (previously labelled as magnitude 5.9 in the agency’s first dispatch), the epicenter is somewhere in the municipality of Don Carlos (07.70°N, 124.87°E – 012 km N 22° W of Kadingilan), but the closest populated area is the town center of Kadingilan town, 12 km south of the epicenter.
The epicenter is about 14 km west of the poblacion of Don Carlos, and 14 km east of the town center of Kalilangan.
“Many of us cannot sleep because the ground keeps on shaking,” said Kadingilan Disaster Risk Reduction Management officer Sheen Therese Romo.
She said that aside from the aftershocks, the earthquake has damaged several buildings in the town, including the municipal hall and police station.
Romo said, however, there was no casualty recorded because of the quake.
PHIVOLCS, in its latest dispatch, said the earthquake of tectonic origin was recorded at a depth of only three kilometers.
Romo said the quake Monday night was not as strong as the magnitude 5.9 temblor that hit the area in November 2019.
She said some 440 houses were either destroyed or damaged and forced the evacuation of 581 families during the 2019 quake. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
