Nothing unusual about consecutive quakes – Solidum
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has clarified that there is nothing unusual with the consecutive tremors that rocked the country over the week adding that an average of 20 earthquakes hit the Philippines in a day.
Phivolcs director Dr. Renato Solidum said the series of quakes felt in the country this past week is usual as we normally experience tremors every day.
"On the average, 20 earthquakes per day are recorded by our monitoring
stations and from time to time there are strong earthquake events that people may notice but these would not be unusual because, from time to time, we have strong magnitude that can happen in the country," he explained.
The Phivolcs chief added that the succession of earthquakes that happened in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao are not connected and only coincidental.
"These (earthquakes) are not connected. The faults that have generated these earthquakes are far from each other and they are not connected. These are coincidental," Solidum said.
On Monday, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked Zambales followed by a magnitude 6.5 tremor in Eastern Samar on Tuesday, and a magnitude 4.7 quake in Davao Oriental on Wednesday.
Solidum explained that there is nothing unusual in the sequence of tremblors that happened over the week except that these are felt and there have been damages and even casualties.
At least 15 people died in Porac, Pampanga during Monday's earthquake.
According to Solidum, there is no increase on the number of quakes recorded in the country and added that the aftershocks are normal.
"The aftershocks will increase the number of earthquakes recorded but that is only part of the major or the strong earthquake events that happened in Central Luzon and Eastern Samar," he added.
On Wednesday, the agency has recorded 640 aftershocks and 70 minor shocks from the 6.1-magnitude and 6.5-magnitude earthquakes, respectively.
Out of these aftershocks, 94 were plotted from their original source, and only 10 were felt, while of the 70 minor shocks, 21 were plotted, while only three were felt.