The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in MIMAROPA (Region 4-B) said Tuesday, Sept. 28, that it recorded minor damages and zero casualty in wake of the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that jolted Looc, Occidental Mindoro.

Georgina Opinion, OCD 4-B information officer, said that a wall of a condemned building and a residential area in Barangay Tagbac in the nearby Lubang town sustained cracks due to the mildly strong quake that occured at 1:12 a.m. Monday.

"Even though napakalakas po ng pagyanig, very minor damages po ang nai-report sa atin ng local government units. To specify, nakaranas ng damaged wall sa isang kusina at damaged wall sa isang condemned building pero these are very minor (Even though the earthquake was strong, there were very minor damages reported to us by the local government units. To specify, there was a damaged wall at the kitchen area of a residential house and damaged wall at a condemned building but these are very minor)," Opinion said in a "Laging Handa" briefing.

She said the total amount of damaged properties was P15,000.

"Wala rin pong nasugatan at namatay doon sa nangyaring lindol (Nobody also got injured or died due to the earthquake)," she added.

Looc and other nearby areas in Occidental Mindoro continued to experience aftershocks, according to the OCD official, so local chief executives were making rounds in their localities to assess the structural integrity of residential buildings and other private establishments.

"Ang advise natin, patuloy na mag-observe at mag-ikot sa kanilang areas kasi sabi ng Phivolcs ay possible na hindi masira ang structures sa main earthquake pero baka doon sa aftershocks dahil patuloy pa rin ang pagyanig (Our advise to them is to continue observing at survey their areas because according to the , it is possible that the structures won't be destroyed from the main earthquake but from the aftershocks because the rumblings continue)," Opinion said.

She also reminded the residents in affected areas to always remember the do's and dont's during an earthquake which are being practiced in the nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill (NSED) by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

"We advice na seryosohin ang mga ganoong practice kasi iyon ang makakapagpaligtas ng buhay na tao, ang paulit-ulit na pagsasanay na dapat gawin. Kahit hindi tayo sigurado kung kailan mangyayari, papasok ang muscle memory natin kapag nandyan na so 'duck, cover, and hold' dapat (We advice them to take those practices seriously because it 's what would save a person's life, the repeated exercise of the appropriate response. Even if we don't know when it will happen, our muscle memory will kick in if it ever occurs so there's the 'duck, cover, and hold')," Opinion said, referring to the primary practice of keeping one's self safe during an earthquake.

She also urged the public to be familiarized with the evacuation plan of their barangay so they would know where to go after the shaking.