By Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–A 5.9-magnitude earthquake in Southern Leyte at around 7:40 morning on Thursday (Jan. 23) caused road cracks and damaged several houses of light materials at some barangays in Liloan and San Francisco towns.
There were no reported casualties but the tremor also caused rockslides as huge rock boulders fell from the hillsides into the mountain highways along these towns, blocking safe passage of motorists and residents of the areas.
A report from Radyo Pilipinas Sogod said that supporting links between spans of the Liloan Bridge moved to a risky situation due to the quake. DPWH district general maintenance point person Melvin Padilla said they have to temporarily close the bridge from motorists, while they conduct a thorough inspection of the bridge condition.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said that the quake, of tectonic origin, had its epicenter seven kilometers south of San Francisco town. Intensity 5 was felt at Padre Burgos town, Intensity 4 at Hinunangan town and Maasin City, and Intensity 3 went northward to Dulag, Palo, and Carigara towns, including Ormoc City.
Engineering offices and disaster management personnel of local government units in Southern Leyte went into immediate actions, inspection and assessment, in their respective areas, specially in the 24 barangays that were earlier reported to have damages, to ensure that all are secured and safe in the aftermath of the earthquake, which was also noted to have some aftershocks. —Miriam G. Desacada