DPA/Manila
A series of earthquakes struck the southern Philippines on the weekend, injuring at least one person and damaging 70 houses, officials said yesterday.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it recorded more than 20 quakes in the southern province of North Cotabato since Saturday. The strongest quake, with a magnitude of 5.2 hit near Kidapawan City, 955 kilometres south of Manila, and was felt as far as 45 kilometres away in Davao City, the institute said.
The most damage was reported in the nearby town of Makilala, where 15 houses were destroyed and 45 sustained damages, the provincial disaster relief agency said. A boy was hurt when a house collapsed, the agency added.
The institute said the series of quakes, called a swarm, was usually associated with a volcanic eruption.
But it added that the quakes in North Cotabato were tectonic in nature, although the locations were near Mount Apo, the Philippines’ highest volcano that is considered potentially active.
