OFFICIALS of Lubang town in Occidental Mindoro reported minor damage from a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit the town yesterday morning.
Areas in Metro Manila felt the quake at Intensity III.
Lubang Mayor Michael Orayani, citing initial information from barangay captains, said the damage include “floor tiles of houses popping up” and “cracks on the beam of some houses.”
“The shaking was really strong… What I did was order our (disaster risk reduction and management office) to call the barangay captains and tell them to go around their barangays and assess the damage,” he said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake, which was tectonic in origin, occurred at 5:05 a.m. Its epicenter was some 110 km northwest of Lubang town and it had a depth of 28 km.
Jeremy Villas, the town’s disaster risk reduction and management officer, said at least two houses had their floors tiles and partition walls popping up due to the quake.
Villas said they expect more damage to be reported, noting that barangay officials were still continuing with their damage assessment.
Mark Timbal, spokesman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the Camp Aguinaldo-based council has yet to receive official reports on the quake damage.
“So far none yet, the assessment of our colleagues in Mimaropa and other areas that experienced the shaking are still ongoing. So far, there are no reported casualties,” said Timbal.
