Manila: Thousands of coastal residents in Surigao del Sur fled to evacuation centres early Saturday morning in anticipation of a tsunami after magnitude 6.5 magnitude quake rocked the province.
Radio reports reaching Manila from Southern Philippines said some 6,000 to 8,000 residents from more than a dozen villages sought refuge at the provincial capitol in Tandag City. Most of those who fled were living along the coast, the dzMM radio station reported.
According to a bulletin issued by the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the initial tremor measuring magnitude 6.5 hit at around 2:17 Saturday. Roused from their sleep, residents fled to the capitol anticipating a tsunami as they felt three more aftershocks until 6.13am.
Surigao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Ed Millorin said the residents only started to return to their homes after the Phivolcs assured them that there is no threat from a tsunami. Phivolcs said the remor occurred at a depth of 78 kilometres.
According to Phivolcs, intensity 5 was felt in Tandag.
Phivolcs described the earthquake’s intensity as “strong” and “generally felt by most people indoors and outdoors.”
Surigao City and Dapa municipality also felt the earthquake at intensity 4, while. intensity 3 was noted in Surigao del Sur’s Bislig City and Agusan del Norte’s Butuan City.
So far, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council had not reported any damages of casualties from the earthquake event.
The Philippines is located in the so-called Ring of Fire, an area in the Pacific frequented by earthquakes and other natural calamities.
