Great
Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Philippines: Strong Earthquake rocks 3 provinces
By Mar Arguelles
Inquirer Southern Luzon
11:23 pm | Saturday, January 28th, 2012
LEGAZPI CITY—An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 rocked the
provinces of Catanduanes, Sorsogon and Albay on Saturday morning,
said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(Phivolcs).
Phivolcs said the quake struck at about 8:27 a.m. with its
epicenter traced to Virac, the capital of Catanduanes.
Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist of Phivolcs, said the agency’s
instruments located the epicenter of the earthquake at 62
kilometers southeast of Virac with a depth of less than a
kilometer.
The quake was felt at intensity 3 in Baras, Catanduanes, intensity
2 in Sorsogon and intensity 1 in Irosin and Legazpi City.
Laguerta said the earthquake was of tectonic origin, which means
the quake was triggered by the movement of the earth’s crust.
The quake rocked the Bicol area for about 1.8 seconds but no one
was reported injured and it did not cause any damage to private
and public structures, he said.
The Philippines has several active fault lines and dozens of
quakes hit the country every day although most are too weak to be
felt.