Houses were ruined by 3 earthquakes that swept the Philippines in 24 hours. (Image: Yahoo News Australia)

Earthquakes shake the Philippines, 8 dead & 60 injured

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Sports & Culture
Population
Jul 27, 2019
2480
ITBAYAT - An island of small population, Itbayat Island, located in Luzon Strait, 695 km north from Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was devastated by three back-to-back earthquakes which shook the Batanes Archipelago. The earthquakes occurred on the same day with hours of intervals in between.

The first two earthquakes were M5.4 & M5.9 on Friday (26/7) evening, and the third was M5.7 on Saturday (27/7). A civilian recalled the earthquake as a “strong one” that made their beds sway side to side like a “hammock”.

When the first M5.4 earthquake occurred, some buildings were heavily cracked. A famous tourist destination at the island city Itbayat, Santa Maria de Mayan Church, also felt the quake that cracked its bell tower.

The second M5.9 earthquake occurred more than 3 hours after the first. Due to the second earthquake, the bell tower of the church was falling apart to debris. The earthquake cracked and made some houses tremble. There were some casualties from the quake due to the debris because it happened at night when people were asleep.

The third M5.7 earthquake happened at an early hour on Saturday. It happened more than 2 hours after the second earthquake and it swept the city of Basco.

Currently, there are eight casualties due to the 3 earthquakes. The first five were due to the first earthquake, and the last three was because of the second earthquake. The deaths were caused by collapsing buildings and debris. Due to the earthquakes, about 60 people were injured from the initial amount at 12.

About 3,000 population of the devastated city were evacuated to the nearest city plaza to prevent any further casualties. Also, the electricity was cut off as a preventive measure. It was advisably safe for the people to stay outside, in fear of the debris and crumbling building. However, the trauma still haunts the people because aftershocks are felt.

The government of the Philippines is said to have dispatched medical and rescue teams to aid the victims of the earthquakes that were also slightly felt in Taiwan.

- RING OF FIRE –

Almost the same as its neighboring country, Indonesia, the Philippines is also included within the “Ring of Fire”, the regions where 90% of which are often hit by series of earthquakes.

Previously, one of the worst earthquakes recorded to swept the Philippines was in 2013, with 7.1-magnitude. The earthquake buried more than 200 people in its wake.

Nonetheless, the worst to ever hit the Philippines occurred in 1990, with 7.8-magnitude. As the worst and the strongest tremor to ever shake the Philippines, the quake buried more than 2,400 people in the northern region of Luzon Island.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/114558561/8-dead-60-injured-in-series-of-strong-quakes-in-philippines

Social , Humanity , Disaster , Nature , ASEAN , Philippines , Earthquake , Ring-of-Fire