BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A 4.1-magnitude earthquake rocked several parts of Western Visayas noontime yesterday.
The quake’s epicenter was about 18 kilometers northeast of Sipalay City, according to Zeaphard Caelian, head of Negros Occidental’s Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD).
It was tectonic in origin, he added, citing the advisory of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Intensity V was felt in Sipalay City and Cauayan City in Negros Occidental and Intensity IV in Hinobaan town.
It was Intensity III in Iloilo City; Jordan, Guimaras; Bayawan City, Negros Oriental; and Bago City, Negros Occidental; and Intensity II in La Carlota City and Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
The quake didn’t trigger evacuation.
Caelian said they were not expecting any aftershocks or damages, pointing out that the quake was part of the normal movement of the Negros Trench located off Sipalay City and Hinoba-an town.
But he warned that small tremors could trigger landslides in rain-soaked mountainous areas.
Last month, the area also experienced 30 earthquake swarms with the strongest recorded magnitude at 4.6.
An earthquake swarm is a burst of earthquake activity clustered in a specific area in a short period of time due to the movement of a fault./PN
