BAGUIO CITY – The harrowing experiences of millions of people during the onslaught of the July 16, 1990 killer earthquake flashed back to the present generation when a minor quake measuring magnitude 3.8 in the Richter scale rocked this mountain resort city and some parts of nearby Pangasinan around 5:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Salvador Cesario, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) in Baguio, said that based on their monitoring the epicenter of the earthquake was at 16.17 degrees north, 120.41 north, 120.41 degrees east, 17 kilometers north and 31 degrees east of Dagupan city and had a depth of 43 kilometers.

Cesario said residents of Dagupan City and some parts of Pangasinan felt the quake at Intensity 3 while those in Baguio and Benguet felt the quake at Intensity 2.

Phivolcs said the earthquake was of tectonic origin because of the movement of the Bolinao fault in Bolinao, Pangasinan which is located in the middle of the ocean, making the intensity of the earthquake low.

Baguio City, Benguet, Dagupan City, Pangasinan, and Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija were the areas in Northern Luzon which were heavily devastated by the Intensity 7 earthquake that jolted the country on July 16, 1990 or nearly 20 years ago.

Cesario said the occurrence of low frequency quakes is an eye opener for house and building owners to check the foundations of their respective structures so that it could withstand quakes in the future.

He explained that earthquakes having an intensity of 2-6 could bring damages to structures if the same are not properly constructed, especially in mountainous terrain while quakes above 6 are considered to be dangerous since it could bring heavy damages to properties and even loss of lives such as what happened in Haiti.

While there were no casualties and damages reported following the latest quake to hit Northern Luzon, Cesario admitted it caused panic among local residents. (With a report from Freddie G. Lazaro)