A MAGNITUDE 5.4 earthquake struck Northern Samar at 8:43:54 a.m. on Monday with the epicenter 89 kilometers east of Palapag town, the weather bureau said.
Leniel Salayon, science research assistant, said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology had not recorded any single aftershock.
“The Samar tremor had nothing to do with the quakes in Batangas,” she told the Manila Standard.
Palapag experienced intensity 3, Catarman and Sorsogon’s Cabid-an and Juban intensity 2, and Tacloban City intensity 1.
In other developments:
• President Rodrigo Duterte asked government agencies to immediately extend assistance to the areas affected by the earthquake that struck Batangas on Saturday.
• The Energy department urged the power generators to hasten the restoration of power the facilities
affected by the earthquake in Batangas that plunged the Luzon grid to red alert on Monday afternoon.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi gave the directive to energy players, especially power plant operators, to ensure the safe and immediate restoration of their power facilities affected by the earthquake.
• The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, one of oldest churches in Batangas, was closed temporarily due to the damage caused by the recent earthquake, but will hold mass outdoors, Batangas parish officials said.
• Senator Nancy Binay urged all local government units to explore the suitability of open spaces in their areas of jurisdiction where people can seek temporary shelter during and after an earthquake.
Of tectonic origin, the Samar tremor was triggered by the movement of the Philippine Trench off Samar Island.
As of Monday afternoon, Phivolcs was able to record at least 2,155 aftershocks since the April 4 5.5-magnitude quake that shook Tingloy, Batangas, at 8:58 p.m.
Phivolcs discovered a new fault along Mabini town in Batangas.
The agency said the fault runs along the Mabini Peninsula, and that it does not have the history of a powerful quake or a surface manifestation.
Phivolcs has not yet identified the exact location of the fault that generated magnitude 5.6 quake at 3:07 p.m. on April 8, followed by a magnitude 6 at 3:09 p.m. With John Paolo Bencito, Alena Mae S. Flores, Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta