ZAMBOANGA CITY, 26 November 2005 — A tornado killed a woman and left a trail of destruction on a remote village in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, reports said yesterday.
One radio station said the unnamed woman was decapitated by flying debris while trying to escape from the twister on Thursday in the village of Arigay in Kabacan, North Cotabato province. At least seven, mostly thatched houses, were also destroyed by the tornado that swept through the village, leaving dozens of people homeless.
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air near land surface that originates from a thunderstorm. It is form from the twisting of rising air.
Meanwhile, a moderate quake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale also rocked Mindanao yesterday, but no casualties or damage were reported, an official said.
A possible movement of the offshore Philippine Fault may have triggered the quake that was recorded at 1:31 p.m. (0531 GMT), said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Ferdinand Taglucop, Phivolcs science analyst in Mindanao, said the tremor’s epicenter was traced at sea, about 115 kilometers south of General Santos. It had a depth of 15 kilometers.
The quake was felt at intensity 2 in Davao City, 800 km southeast of Manila.
Earthquakes measuring between 5.5 and 6.0 on the Richter scale have the potential to inflict light damage to buildings and other structures. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service)
