Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits Surigao; residents shaken

HINATUAN, Surigao del Sur—Rosalin Voila, 41, thought Saturday night would be her last as she and her husband lay on the ground at a fishpond amid a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck this eastern Mindanao seaboard town, only 29 kilometers from the temblor’s epicenter in the Philippine Sea.

“I thought it was the end,” Rosalin said of the quake that struck at 10:37 p.m. on Saturday. “All I could think of were the children at home while we stayed on the ground as the earth shook.”

“Luckily, our children managed to run out across the stilt bridges before our house totally collapsed,” said Voila, as she struggled to shake off the trauma from the experience.

The tremor was felt at Intensity 7 in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, and Intensity 6 here and in the Maco and Monkayo towns of Davao de Oro.

In Cebu, Bohol and Leyte provinces of the Visayas, the tremor was felt at Intensity 4. It was Intensity 5 in Eastern Samar.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), which revised its measurement of the quake’s strength from magnitude 6.9, also issued a tsunami warning.

Rosalin and her family are currently staying at an evacuation center in Barangay Bituon here, where other residents also sought refuge amid the more than 600 aftershocks recorded by Phivolcs.

9,765 families affected

Gregorio Ramoso, 48, said that most families are afraid of the constant aftershocks as these continue to weaken their houses.

“Other houses that were not damaged during the earthquake are slowly tilting to one side while others are about to collapse with the constant shaking of the ground,” Ramoso said.

“I was at sea fishing when it happened, but even out in the waters, we felt the earthquake and the waves got violent. We hurried back home only to find several of the houses, including mine, destroyed,” he said.

On Sunday, several families continued to arrive at the evacuation center, saying they were worried that their homes would eventually collapse from the aftershocks.

Hinatuan Mayor Shem Garay said they had to accommodate only those who lost their homes and asked others to return to their undamaged homes.

As of 3 p.m. on Sunday, the town’s disaster office counted 90 destroyed homes and 268 damaged ones, initially estimating that the damage was worth around P45 million.

A total of 9,765 families, or 38,302 individuals, were affected.

In other areas of Surigao del Sur, the quake left a swath of damaged houses and public infrastructure, such as cracked roads and bridges.

Classes suspended

On Sunday, residents from 13 barangays here returned home after Phivolcs lifted the tsunami alert following the strong earthquake.

As of noon Sunday, there were no reports of injuries or deaths among the townsfolk, but a woman was killed in Tagum City in Davao del Norte, when a wall collapsed as she and her family fled their home.

In Tandag City, a minor sustained injuries from cement debris when hit by cracks in the wall of the Bureau of Internal Revenue building.

Mati City Mayor Michelle Rabat suspended all classes in public schools on Monday, Dec. 4, to allow thorough inspections of public infrastructures.

In Butuan City, the Bureau of Fire Protection said a fire broke out at the Manuel J. Santos Hospital on Saturday night, triggered by an electrical short circuit during the earthquake.

At the height of the quake, power was cut off in much of the Caraga region, but it was restored an hour later. INQ