The occurrence of two to four earthquakes in a week in several parts of the country is actually a blessing in disguise that Filipinos should really be thankful for, a noted Filipino scientist said.

Department of Science and Technology (DoST) Undersecretary Dr. Graciano Yumul explained that incidents of frequent but weak quakes prevent a high-magnitude earthquake like that which recently devastated Haiti from hitting the country.

“There are many occurrences of weak and slightly felt earthquakes in the country. And we are happy about this because the more faults and trenches move, more energy are released from the ground in installments,” Yumul said.

“That’s the reason why we are happy with the Marikina Fault Line because it moves frequently that makes it less likely for very strong and devastating earthquakes to propagate from our trenches and faults,” he continued.

The Philippines is highly susceptible to earthquakes because it sits over at least 15 active faults, and four large chunks of moving trenches like the Sulu, Negros, Manila, and Philippine Trenches as well as East Luzon Trough that collides against each other.

On January 28 alone, the Philippine Institute on Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) recorded two separate occurrence of tectonic earthquakes that sent tremors to provinces near Virac, Catanduanes, and Surigao City.

Earlier records of Philvolcs revealed that there is an average of two to five tremblors packing weak to moderate magnitudes that have been slightly felt at low to moderate intensities that occur each week across the archipelago particularly in Southern Luzon, Bicol, and Mindanao.

But Yumul clarified that Filipinos should not be complacent that a 7-magnitude strong earthquake will not occur in this lifetime, citing a study saying that the Marikina Valley Fault moves in a variability of 300 to 400 years that would be potentially catastrophic.

“Geographic maps show that many earthquakes originate in the Philippines, which require us to always monitor closely. And we should prepare for that,” he said.

“And since we don’t know when the big earthquake will hit, we should establish mitigating exercises,” he added.

He noted that installing early warning instruments that can detect earthquake would become useless for the country, saying that the country's proximity to earthquake generators would only buy 10 to 15 minutes of warning time before a tremblor actually occurs.

In July 1990, the Luzon earthquake measuring magnitude 7 on the Richter Magnitude Scale killed thousands of people, and destroyed large buildings in Baguio, Agoo, and Dagupan City, making it the most destructive quake to occur in recent memory.

In August 1968, a 7.3 magnitude tremblor released an energy that shook grounds at Intensity VIII in Casiguran, Aurora, which was considered as the most severe and destructive earthquake experienced in the country in the last three decades.