ZAMBOANGA CITY, 2 December 2005 — A magnitude 5.7 temblor jolted many parts of the southern Philippines early yesterday, rousing residents from their sleep, but there were no reports of any damage or casualty.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake centered at sea about 140 kilometers southwest of Sultan Kudarat province in the southern part of Mindanao island.
Director Renato Solidum of the Phivolcs said the tremor was generated by movements along the Cotabato Trench.
The tremor struck shortly before 1 a.m. and was also as far as Zamboanga City, Pagadian and Cotabato. “I felt the temblor, and thought I was having an attack because I am hypertensive, but my wife, who was also roused from her sleep, noticed a rope slowly swaying and my God, we realized it was an earthquake,” a 43-year old father of four, Joaquin Reyes, told Arab News in Zamboanga City.
Some 7,000 people perished in 1976 when a tsunami, triggered by movements of plates in the Cotabato Trench, hit many coastal villages in Mindanao.
Seismologists say the Philippines lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tremors, some caused by volcanic activity, are common.
