By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY – Two tectonic earthquakes jolted Agusan del Sur province during the New Year’s Day celebration.
FILE PHOTO: Agusan del Sur map (MANILA BULLETIN)
However, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said the earthquakes did not inflict any damage or injury.
In its bulletin, Phivolcs said a magnitude 3.2 earthquake was registered at 4:59 a.m. today.
The epicenter was plotted only 2 kilometers (km) southwest from the capital town of Prosperidad in Agusan del Sur province.
The earthquake had a shallow depth of only 1 km, it said.
At 5:53 a.m., also on New Year’s Day celebration of Agusanons, a magnitude 3 tremor was also registered.
The epicenter was traced only 6 km southwest of that same capital town of the province, with a shallow depth again of 1 km, Phivolcs said.
Agusan del Sur provincial information officer Armando R. Gomez said their provincial disaster risk reduction and management council was immediately mobilized to check on residents and infrastructures but reported no damages or injury.
Meanwhile, on New Year’s eve, Dec. 31, 2017, a magnitude 5.2 tremor was registered at 10:53 p.m. The epicenter was located 57 km southwest of Maasim (Sarangani), Davao Occidental province, in Southern Mindanao region, Phivolcs also said in its bulletin. The tremor had a depth of 31 km, it said.
Intensity IV was registered in General Santos City; Lake Sebu, South Cotabato; Alabel, Sarangani and Intensity III was recorded in Davao City; Lebak, Sultan Kudarat while Intensity II in Zamboanga City; Tupi and Sto. Niño, South Cotabato; Koronadal City, the state agency said.
Instrumental Intensities recorded Intensity IV in Alabel, Sarangani and Intensity II in Zamboanga City.
The Southern Mindanao Office of Civil Defense and Davao Occidental Disaster Risk Reduction and management Council (DRRMC) reported no damage or injury.
The state agency is expecting aftershocks, it said in its bulletin.