The U.S. Geological Survey puts the number at 6.7 for the one that hit on Friday evening. It comes on the heels of the twin-quake fiasco in Venezuela, so nerves are a bit on edge. The early word is there’s been little in the way of an immediate impact, though we have been told to be careful in Mindanao as they put in the work to check things over.
You only have to go back a few weeks to when this part of the country was hit by a fatal quake that left more than 80 dead. That is the kind of backdrop that makes for a quick response and a wary public on a day like Friday.
What we know from Mindanao
USGS has the time as 7:42 pm (1142 GMT) and the depth at 65.7 km (41 miles), some 21 km to the southwest of Sarangani. No need for a tsunami alert, at least not right now.
Then in another report, USGS put down a 6.5 at 29 km under Mindanao on Friday. We haven’t heard of any deaths or major damage. The local side of things is on it, with emergency types keeping an eye on the coast and authorities looking into the numbers. Again, no tsunami called for.
Still feeling the sting of June
This is all in the shadow of a 7.8 that came through in early June and did a lot of harm. More than 1,300 were hurt, and we had to put out tsunami warnings and get people out of the way in some of the coastal towns. Rescue crews were in the rubble of some buildings while power and comms went out in a few provinces.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences says the June one was shallow, around 10 km, which made for some hard shaking. You could see the effects on the ground: the seabed in some places heaved up almost two metres and the shoreline in others was pushed out 200 metres. A 6.5 aftershock was among the ones that followed.
And then there is Venezuela
While we are counting new quakes in Asia, Venezuela is in the throes of its own problem. On Wednesday night, a 7.2 and a 7.5 hit in the span of a minute. Some buildings have come down and the main international airport is in bad shape, they say.
‘We are making an extraordinary effort in every corner of the country,’ Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said on state TV. He put the body count at 235 and the injured at 4,300. In La Guaira, the area that has taken the most of it, the hospitals are full and they are putting in field units to make do.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez has put La Guaira in the disaster category; over 250 structures have been hit. The region is right next to Caracas and home to the Simon Bolivar International Airport, which has seen some heavy damage. Five other states have been in the mix as well.
The opposition has put together a site to keep tabs on the missing. They have 49,000 names and growing, which is a lot more than the government is saying. You can still see families putting up photos and pleas on the web as the search continues.
From Pakistan to India, the ground is unsteady
Pakistan had a 5.3 on Friday, per the National Center of Seismology. And in the evening, something was reported 402 kms from Arunachal Pradesh. It is just more of the same activity in the region.
Why the Philippines is so prone to it
It is where the country is. The Pacific Ring of Fire is a place for this kind of thing, and with the tectonic plates coming together, you can expect an earthquake in the archipelago on any given day.
Mindanao is in a spot of particular risk with the Cotabato Trench not far away. We have seen thousands of quakes there in the last few months, and it means the odds of an aftershock don’t go down after a big one.
Looking ahead
In Mindanao, the authorities are out checking on the roads, the bridges, the utilities and the coast. The agencies are on the job to confirm what is being reported and let the communities know. For the time being, there is no call for a tsunami.
Here is where the focus is, according to what has been put out:
– Get the epicentre and depth figures in order
– See how the hospitals, airports and other services are holding up
– Keep a watch on the coast even without a warning
– Put the final numbers on casualties as we can
– Over in Venezuela, put in more field hospitals and help
When you look at it, the difference is plain. Mindanao has been spared the worst of it for now, but you have to be resilient in these parts. Meanwhile, Venezuela is dealing with a very different kind of tragedy.
