Manila Nine people, majority of them children, were hurt, a three-storey building collapsed, and several buildings had cracks as a quake measuring 5.2 magnitude in the Richter scale, occurred three kilometres north of Masbate, central Philippines at 7:06 Tuesday morning, officials said.
Some people woke up because of the quake, they panicked and rushed out of their homes. Those who were already in their offices and in schools also panicked when three other temblors, measuring 3.5, 3.3, and 3.3 magnitude occurred at six, 15, and 11 kilometre of Masbate at 7:13, 7:20, and 7:22 in the morning, respectively, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismolgy (Phivolcs) head Renato Solidum said.
Tuesday's quake occurred north of the epicentre of the Masbate fault that moved earlier and resulted in a quake that measured 6.3 magnitude in 2003, said Solidum.
The first quake sent strong Intensity six in Masbate City, Intensity four in Irosin and Cabid-an towns in Sorsogon City, and Intensity two in Legaspi City, all in southern Luzon, but no untoward incidents occurred there, Solidum said, adding that the second quake sent Intensity five in Masbate City and Intensity two in Roxas City, both in central Philippines.
Jiho Emilio, two, and Leonard Dimitillar, three, both suffered head injuries; and Rex Davida, eight, suffered foot injury in several villages in Masbate. They were hit by falling debris, said Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) told Gulf News.
They were all brought to the Masbate Provincial Hospital, Ramos said.
As soon as an abandoned three-story building in Bapor Village, Masbate City collapsed, authorities asked residents to leave two other buildings whose glass windows were shattered. Cracks were also found in several buildings after the quake, Masbate City Mayor Socrates Tuason said in a TV and radio interview.
"People were having breakfast and preparing to go to work and school when the quake happened. Those who decided to stay put insdie their homes when the quake occurred refused to go out the whole day; those who rushed out of their homes, offices, and schools during the quake decided to remain on the street on the whole day… Students were ordered not to go to school and classes were suspended province-wide," said Tuason.
