CEBU CITY – In-person classes in several schools in Metro Cebu were suspended one day after a magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck Poro, Camotes Islands, Cebu.
ARCHITECT Florante Catalan, chief of the Cebu City Office of the Building Official, checks cracks found in a classroom of the Abellana National School in Cebu City during an inspection on Monday, September 30. (Photo from MyTVCebu)
Classes were cancelled on Monday, September 30, to accommodate the inspection of school buildings.
The Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu City Division ordered public and private elementary and high schools to shift to modular learning while the structural integrity of school buildings is being checked.
The local governments of Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova also suspended face-to-face classes.
The Cebu Normal University, Asian College of Technology, and University of the Visayas were among the universities that halted in-person classes.
One of the schools that personnel of the Cebu City Office of the Building Official (OBO) and City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office inspected was the Abellana National School (ANS).
During the inspection, cracks were found on the walls of some classrooms.
Despite the visible cracks, Architect Florante Catalan, chief of OBO, said classrooms at ANS remained safe for learners and teachers.
Catalan said some classrooms need just minor repairs.
“We did not see beams or columns with cracks. So in our analysis, these classrooms are safe,” said Catalan.
The earthquake occurred at 2:53 p.m. on Sunday, September 29, with its epicenter located 16 kilometers south of Poro, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and the United States Geological Survey.
Aftershocks recorded include a magnitude-two tremor at 2:58 p.m. and another measuring magnitude-2.2 at 4:45 p.m.