7.9 Quake Struck Eastern Samar

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the east coast of the Philippines causing the death of one person and injuring another. Mild level tsunamis struck in areas such as in Surigao City and the coast of Samar.

Tsunami warnings were issued to areas in the eastern part of the country and as far as Indonesia.

The lone fatality was identified as 54 year old Emelinda Ubalde, a grandmother who had tried to reach out to her 5-year-old grandchild when a landslide occurred during the earthquake in Cagayan de Oro City.

The U.S. Geological Survey had located the earthquake epicenter at 93 km east of Sulangan in the resort town of Guian in Samar. It had a depth of 43 kilometers and struck at approximately 8:47 P.M Friday night.

Renato Solidum, the head of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), stated that the tremor was a shallow quake and has the high potentialities for building up tsunamis. People near the epicenter were ordered to evacuate.

But this morning, the evacuees were directed to go back to their homes after it was cleared that tsunamis would not likely to occur.

A 7.9 magnitude earthquake is considered very high. It was fortunate that the epicenter was in the sea. 

The deadly 1990 earthquake that struck Baguio City for example registered a similar intensity 7.9 magnitude at the Richter Scale. It claimed the lives 1,625 and considered one of the deadliest in the nation’s history.