DAVAO CITY—A strong earthquake struck southwestern Mindanao at near midnight Sunday, sending residents to scamper outside their houses in panic.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded the tremor at magnitude 6.4 at a depth of 143 kilometers at a mountainous region of Don Marcelino town of Davao Occidental at 11:23 p.m., Sunday.
The tremor was of tectonic in origin with no reported damage to business establishments and infrastructure, but its effect rippled through as far as General Santos City to its west that was felt at intensity 5, Kidapawan City to north at intensity 4 and much farther away to Gingoog City in northern Mindanao at intensity 3 and Bislig City in Surigao del Sur to the northeast at intensity 2.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the Mindanao Grid remained intact “as there are no reports of power interruption and damaged transmission facilities in Davao Occidental and nearby areas where the earthquake was felt.”
The eastern half of Mindanao continued to be troubled by earthquakes following the traumatic occurrence of successive quakes of more than magnitude 6 in a span of two weeks in late October last year. These occurred in the interior south-central town of Tulunan, South Cotabato.
Only last week, on August 31, a 5-magnitude quake occurred at a shallow depth of 18 kilometers of Kiblawan town, Davao del Sur.
Since January this year, strong earthquakes of tectonic origin have been alternating from epicenters off Sarangani Island in Davao Occidental, Sarangani province and in various towns of Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental.