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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Intensity 6 earthquake jolts C. Luzon, Manila
DAGUPAN CITY -- Residents in Luzon panicked Tuesday noon when a tectonic quake, with a magnitude of 6.0 caused a movement of the Manila trench causing buildings across Manila to shake for several seconds.
Panicked residents ran out into the streets, including some staffers at the Presidential Palace and workers in the capital's Makati financial district.
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The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.0 - upgraded from a preliminary estimate of 5.8 - with an epicenter registering in Lingayen in Pangasinan.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said there were no expected aftershocks.
Other areas of Luzon hit by earthquake were Bagac in Bataan, Caloocan, Pasig, Makati, Las Pinas, Pasay, Bulacan, Tarlac, Ilocos Norte, San Fernando in Pampanga, Quezon City, Taguig City, and Nueva Ecija.
A Cabinet meeting presided by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was suspended after presidential security personnel secured the President to a safer place.
President Arroyo's meeting with Cabinet members was moved from the State Dining Room of Malacañang to the Premier Guest House due to the earthquake.
Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde said the President was very calm during the earthquake.
"We just transferred from the state dining room, Cabinet meeting, to the Guest House. The President was calm and collected. Everything is okay. President resumed presiding the meeting," he said.
Deputy presidential spokesman and concurrent National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) executive director Anthony Golez was in the middle of his report on the rehabilitation and assistance extended to the typhoon victims from the Bicol region when the quake occurred.
Golez said it was Vice President Noli De Castro who first inquired about the earthquake, which was followed by the swinging of the chandelier at the State Dining Room where the Cabinet meeting was being held.
He added that everyone was calm, including President Arroyo who was then secured by the members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
He said the Cabinet members and those present in the meeting then followed the President out of the room after the chandelier stopped swinging and the quake ended to enable authorities including structural engineers to inspect and ensure the safety of the whole building.
While they were outside, said Golez, the President commented that such quakes were the reason why she wanted a regular earthquake and similar emergency drills done especially in schools.
The last simultaneous earthquake drill was done in October involving some five million students nationwide.
Golez said President Arroyo wanted the Cabinet meeting to continue but Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro reminded that they could not go in until the structural engineers had gone over the entire place to ensure that everything was all right.
In Dagupan City, the City Council's regular session had adjourned when the building started to tremble and sway.
Some of the people at the third floor where the session hall is located hurriedly went down to the ground floor.
Police Regional Director (PRO) 1 Director Leopoldo Bataoil, who was attending a conference at Camp Crame Tuesday, immediately directed all police provincial directors in the region to be alert for possible tsunami.
Dagupan City was one of the badly hit areas in July 1990 when a 7.7 intensity earthquake hit northern and central Luzon. The city has fully recovered from the damages caused by the said earthquake.
In Pampanga, mall-goers and people in different business establishment rushed outside when they felt the earthquake. Business returned to normal after several minutes.(JMR/MHD/LCMY/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (November 28, 2007 issue)
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