Manila: Thousands of students in Metro Manila started living dangerously at the beginning of the school year after five state schools were certified to sit on two deep fault lines that could trigger a dangerous 7.2 magnitude earthquake, sources said.

Teachers started with pep talks and love for school as they welcomed a total of 23 million students who rushed to 46,624 public primary and secondary schools nationwide on Monday. However, “teachers and administrators “talked about survival to students in five state schools that were certified to be sitting on top of a fault line which could trigger a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Metro Manila,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

He referred to Barangka 9 National High School in eastern suburban Marikina City: Alabang Elementary School, Buli Elementary School, and Pedro Diaz High School in southern suburban Muntinlupa City; and Anne Claire Montessori in southern suburban Taguig City.

Students in these schools received “serious lectures on contingency plans and safe evacuation sites in case an earthquake occurs,” a mother in Marikina said.

The Valley Fault Atlas released by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the 100-kilometre West Valley Fault, and 10-kilometre East Valley Fault cross 18 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, including parts of northern suburban Bulacan, eastern suburban Rizal, and southern Luzon’s Cavie and Laguna.

Based on Phivolcs map, the administration building of Alabang Elementary School (in Muntinglupa) was demolished because it was directly on top of a fault-line. Ten classrooms of the Buli Elementary School in suburban Muntinglupa located on top of a fault line were no longer opened. Four structures of the Pedro Diaz High School in Muntinglupa that traverse a fault line were also vacated, school officials announced.

Anne Claire Montessori that sits on top of a fault line has made similar precautionary adjustments, school administrators said.

Although the number of schools on fault lines reached an alarming 140, Luistro said, “Only those that were erected before 1992 were included in the list of potentially dangerous schools. The approvals and security checks done on schools that were built after 1992 can attest to their structural integrity.”

At the same time, the number of all schools sitting on fault lines could further increase if private schools are included in the list, warned Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum. He did not give more details.

The last recorded quake that the West and East Valley fault triggered was in 1658. It is expected to move every 500 years, Phivolcs said.

The Philippines is part of Asia Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” where deadly earthquakes occur.