TWO months after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake shuddered Sarangani and Davao Occidental, a magnitude 6.4 jolted the same area at around noon earlier today.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the epicenter is located 50 kilometers away from the destructive June 8 tremor that left 107 dead, 1,320 injured, and 7 missing across Mindanao.
The earthquake, which was earlier pegged at magnitude 7.0, was later announced to be magnitude 6.4.
As of this writing, authorities have yet to release a report on casualties, injuries and damage to infrastructure.
“Initially, nasa magnitude 7.0 ito, but based on our calculations, nasa magnitude 6.4 na lamang ito,” said Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol.
“Medyo lumapit doon sa Mindanao island kasi kanina more than 200 kilometers away and ngayon, based on our recalculations, it’s around 50 kilometers from the epicenter of the 7.8 event,” dagdag niya.
According to Bacolcol, the magnitude 6.4 earthquake with a depth of 10 kilometers was triggered by the movement of tectonic plates at the Cotabato Trench.
The temblor was also felt in the adjacent localities in the provinces of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat
Intensity V – Glan
Intensity IV – Kiamba,General Santos City, Malungon and Alabel, Tupi and Polomolok,
Intensity III – Maasim, Maitum, and Malapatan, Lake Sebu and Tampakan, Intensity II – City of Koronadal, Banga, Surallah
Instrumental Intensities:
Intensity V – Sarangani, General Santos City
Intensity IV – Kiamba, Malungon, Tupi
Intensity III – City of Digos, Santa Maria, Maasim, Maitum, and Malapatan, Intensity II – Magsaysay and Matanao, City of Kidapawan, Banga, Santo Niño, and Surallah, Bagumbayan, Isulan, and President Quirino
Intensity I – Tantangan, Columbio, Esperanza, Kalamansig, and Lebak.
Phivolcs also issued a warning of more aftershocks.
Meanwhile, Bacolcol said that the 6.4 earthquake that hit parts of Mindanao earlier today in itself is considered as an aftershock of the destructive magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Sarangani on June 8.
“By definition, an aftershock is one degree lower than the main shock. So ang magnitude 7.8 earthquake, ang maximum aftershock na pwedeng natin na ma-generate ay magnitude 6.8.”
