'Loud bang before magnitude 4.8 quake hit Tulunan,' official

TULUNAN, North
Cotabato — A Protestant Church, public school buildings and at least least 10
houses were partiallydamaged when a magnitude 4.8 earthquake hit North Cotabato at 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) –
Kidapawan office said.

Engr. Hermes
Daquipa, Phivolcs-Kidapawan science research specialist, said the tremor was
felt at intensity 4 in Tulunan town, while intensity 3 in the towns of Makilala
and Mlang in North Cotabato and Tacurong City, in Sultan Kudarat.

Intensity 2
was recorded in Kidapawan City, Daquipa said.

Engr. Daquipa
noted the damages in residential areas were reported in Barangay Bacung, while
public school buildings as well a protestant Church were also damaged in the
villages of Tuburan and Banayal, all in Tulunan town.

But Daquipa
said the magnitude 4.8 tremor cannot destroy a structure if it was built
properly and not sub-standards.

Ang sira
naman ay classification na hindi maganda ang pagkagawa. Meaning ang wall may
isang bakal lang na vertical at horizontal at ang poste dinagdagan lang ng
semento na hindi nilagyan ng bakal kaya with 4.8 earthquake sigurado titibag
ang bahay (Substandards structures with only few round bars on its beams and
trusses could easily give way in a magnitude 4.8 tremor),” Daquipa said.

Daquipa also
commented that the public school buildings in the areas hit by mild earthquakes
were among the structures that easily got damage.

Baka tinipid
kasi makita mo sa lindol sa Carmen, Makilala at ngayon Tulunan ang mga
collateral damages mga public school buildings (School buildings were damaged
in previous tremors in Carmen, Makilala and now Tulunan, maybe because they
were substandard, the contractor may have savings and used limited concrete
materials),” Daquipa said.

Meantime,
Victor Acat, Barangay Bacung chair, said land cracks and even landslides that
covered some of the rice fields were documented after the tremor.

We have heard
a big bang then the earthquake followed,” Acat told Radyo Bida Kidapawan.

Acat said several
affected families are staying at the village hall for their safety.

The
LGU-Tulunan is now in the area to validate the affected families for possible
assistance.

Mayor Lani
Candolada, on the other hand, appealed to the affected families not to return
to damaged homes because it would be dangerous if earthquakes occur anew.

A house in
Barnagay Lower Bala, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur was also damaged. Teodoro Daliva of Magsaysay municipal disaster
risk reduction management council said the house was owned by Bonifacio delos
Santos was damaged when a tree toppled by magnitude 4.8 tremor that hit nearby North
Cotabato Wednesday.