Windows were shattered, an abandoned building collapsed and people rushed out of homes, offices and schools in a scene a mayor likened to a street fiesta but with “everyone anxious and panicky” as a 5.2-magnitude quake struck Masbate City on Tuesday.
The quake, according to volcanologists, was triggered by the same fault line responsible for the 1990 earthquake that all but obliterated Baguio City.
“It happened close to the surface,” said Joan Salcedo, of the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
“The Philippine fault has many segments and one of its segments moved,” she said.
The 1,200-km fault line, which extends from Luzon to Mindanao, triggered the 7.9-magnitude quake that killed hundreds in Baguio City and other parts of Central Luzon in 1990. On Tuesday, the fault line moved again to trigger the Masbate quake, according to Phivolcs.
Categories: Philippines, Weather