MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

BONTOC, Mountain Province – There were no reports of damages in other parts of northern Luzon during the Jan. 13 earthquake but at Barangay Mainit here, known for its hot springs, damages were noted in 10 sitios which included 10 buildings.

The affected sitios were: Lengwa, Camamang, Patokor, Arnap, Rasfang, Paranchay, Tappok, Chator, Paraychay, and Arnap.

Reports of the municipal disaster coordinating council chaired by Mayor Franklin C. Odsey bared a lot of cracks were discovered at residential and public buildings, open fields and roads in the area.

Initial damage to both government and private properties was estimated to more than half a million pesos.

Frederick N. Waclet, municipal agriculturist and a member of the responding team said some houses were detached from posts which moved away from their original foundations even as electricity was down.

Rex Lingbanan of the municipal health office said the quake was strong but less powerful than the July 16, 1990 killier quake.

Before giving an official statement, Mayor Odsey rushed to Mainit to personally determine the situation and meet with barangay elders and officials.

“Many were affected but we are thankful because despite of the strong earth shake, no lives were lost,” he said.

Odsey said he requested Environment officials to inspect and monitor the area for untoward developments.

He added during his meeting with the Mainit elders and officials, the latter complain about water contamination in downstream baranagys due to mining operation.

“It was unanimously agreed that open-cut mining activities will be stopped and whoever violates the agreement would suffers grave penalty based from cultural imposition.”

Mainit is a tourist destination in the province where hot springs, organic sugarcane wine, and gold abound.

In other parts of northern Luzon, the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale that lasted for 20 seconds and rocked the Ilocos and Cordillera regions.

Director Renato U. Solidum Jr. of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the earthquake occurred at 8:15 p.m.

Its epicenter was located seven kilometers (kms) northeast of Bangued, Abra with a depth of 85 kms.

It was felt at Intensity 5 in Pidigan, Abra; Intensity 4 in Vigan City, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur; Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur; Burgos, Ilocos Sur; and Dagupan City; Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte; Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur; and San Fernando City, La Union and Intensity 1 in Pampanga.

The earthquake jolted residents of Baguio City who were about to go to sleep, forcing them to get out of their homes for safety.

Customers of restaurants and other business establishments open at that time scampered to safety as the tremor strengthened, causing slight panic but people calmed down after the earthquake stopped.

Jun de Peralta, a Philvolcs officials based in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, reported that the earthquake was due to the fault line.

“The Abra River’s tectonic fault line. “The Abra River’s tectonic fault line is a small fault line and is seldom to move,” De Peralta said. –By Freddie G. Lazaro, Dexter A. See and Rommel Lengwa