Davao del Sur quakes may be due to movement of Makilala-Malungon Fault -- Phivolcs official
The movement of Makilala-Malungon Fault may have caused the earthquakes that rocked parts of Mindanao on Sunday, Feb. 7, according to an official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In a radio interview, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary and Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum Jr. attributed the tremors that struck Davao del Sur to the movement of Makilala-Malungon Fault line.
“Sa tingin namin itong Makilala-Malungon Fault, ito yung sinasabi naming hindi pa nakaka-release talaga ng enerhiya na kanyang naipon (We think this Makilala-Malungon Fault, this is what we are saying that has not released yet the energy it has accumulated),” Solidum said over DZBB.
“Sa tingin namin yung western plate ng Makilala-Malungon Fault ang gumalaw (We think the western plate of the Makilala-Malungon Fault was the one that moved),” Solidum added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake jolted Davao del Sur at 12:22 p.m. on Sunday.
The epicenter of the quake was plotted five kilometers southwest of Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur.
Phivolcs initially measured the quake at 6.3-magnitude.
This was the second time that Davao del Sur was rocked by an earthquake on the same day, this time with a higher magnitude.
Before the strong quake, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake rocked parts Davao Del Sur at 7:28 a.m.
Solidum noted that a series of strong tremors jolted the areas of Cotabato and Davao del Sur in 2019.