Thousands return home after quake

MANILA (Updated) — Thousands of villagers who fled their coastal homes during a powerful earthquake in Eastern Visayas returned home Saturday, but hundreds more still jittery from the temblor remained in evacuation centers, officials said.

A magnitude-7.7 quake struck off the east coast of Samar province Friday night, killing one person in a house collapse, knocking out power in several towns and spurring panic about a tsunami that ended up generating only tiny waves.

The quake hit at a depth of 34.9 kilometers (21.7 miles) and was centered 106 kilometers (66 miles) east of Samar Island, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

No large tsunami was generated by the quake and it caused only minor damage, including cracks in buildings and several bridges, Civil Defense chief Benito Ramos said.

Representative Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar province said the approaches to one bridge had collapsed, and only one lane was usable on another bridge because of cracks.

Some cracks also appeared on roads in the provincial capital, Borongan City, and several other towns were still without electricity, he said.

Based on its latest update, the NDRRMC Operations Center reported that as of Saturday, the San Pedro Bridge in Quinapundan, Eastern Samar, is slightly tilted but is still passable to all types of vehicles.

Road cracks were also reported in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte but all roads and bridges in the said province are passable.

The NDRRMC said the quake caused more than P1.4 million in damage in the Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions.

About 140 aftershocks had been recorded by early Saturday, including two with a magnitude of 6.4, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Panicked residents in Samar's coastal towns headed for high ground, Ramos said. "Some rested under tall trees they planned to climb if tsunami waves reached them," he said.

He said hundreds of nervous villagers remained in evacuation centers in Eastern Samar but were expected to return home later Saturday.

A house collapsed in Cagayan de Oro city, on the main southern island of Mindanao, killing a 54-year-old woman and injuring her 5-year-old grandson, said the city's mayor, Vicente Emano.

Solidum said the biggest tsunami that came ashore on Siargao Island was less than half a meter (20 inches) high. The island is a popular surfing spot about 750 kilometers (465 miles) southeast of Manila.

The quake snapped some power lines in Tandag City in Surigao del Sur province on the east coast of Mindanao.

More than 6,000 city residents who headed for the provincial capitol grounds on a hill were back home Saturday, disaster officials said.

The quake set off car alarms, shook items off shelves and sent many coastal residents fleeing before the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted all tsunami alerts it had issued for the Philippines and other countries from Indonesia to Japan, and for Pacific islands as far away as the Northern Marianas.

"It was very strong. My house was making sounds," Bem Noel, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, said in a telephone interview from Tacloban City, located on the east coast of Leyte island near Samar.

"You talk to God with an earthquake that strong," he said.

The Philippine archipelago is located on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people on northern Luzon Island in 1990. (AP/Sunnex)