Earthquake hits Central Philippines

[jadegil6]

An earthquake of 6.8 magnitude hit 70 miles east of Dumagete City, Negros Oriental on February 6 at approximately 11:30 AM.

That report was amended to 70 km north of Dumagete, and the magnitude has also been reported as 6.9. Maybe that information will change again before it is all over.

There have been numerous aftershocks, and everyone in the areas of Negros, Iloilo and Cebu are frightened.

[jadegil6]

Guiihul-ngan, Negros Oriental was hard hit by the quake. At least 43 people have been reported as killed so far, most from being buried in landslides, and others from being crushed by walls and fences collapsing.
The entire province of Negros Oriental is reported to be without electricty.
All the roads and bridges are damaged, and most of the bridges are now impassable, resulting in the inability to transport the injured to the hospital in Dumagete City.

In Cebu City there was mass hysteria as false reports were made about a tsunami. People panicked, and ran through the streets towards higher ground. People sought refuge on overpasses and in tall buildings. Autos were abandoned in the streets, businesses were emptied and left standing open and unattended, and many people were injured in their rush to find safety. Similar incidents were also reported in Dumagete.

[red]

I was in a bank yesterday when my sister text me about the earthquake. I noticed there have been plenty of earthquakes lately all over Philippines. My brother jokingly said there might be some mining going on underneath Phils islands lol. Or could be some sign of rapture is near?

[Edwin]

Yes, I looked at some facebook reports from my friends of the earthquake, and some of them said that we had better call on God. Another said that hell is real and people had better repent.

My friends' house is in Amlan 19 K from Dumeguete City. Some of that family also lives in Tanjay City. They got quite a shaking, and some of them ran out of their buildings in fear. I talked with my friend on the telephone this evening, and he told me that their house in Amlan is okay, and that their family in that area is safe, so that is good news for us. We need to pray for the families that have been damaged by this quake.

[crisipicada]

we experience earthquake this morning at 5am. It is a hard experience because we always feel the trauma since we had that last year. God is near to come. Let us all prepare.

[Edwin]

Earth quakes in divers places is one the signs of the coming again of Jesus and the end of the world. I remember when I was in my early 20s, I became aware of the faults in the earth and all the places earth quakes are apt to happen. I kind of frightened me because we lived right on a fault line, and there was an earth quake there that did some extensive damage in places. Of course we don't live there now, but we did live there for 2 years in the late 1970s and from 1986 until we move to the head of the Lake Chelan deep in the Cascade Mountains. I thought about all the places I might like to live, and there many of those areas were earth quake prone. Where ever we live we trust in the Lord, and if the Lord takes up we are secure in Him, our only hope.

[lyrehc]

I am leaving in bacolod city so we have experience a little shock here, some of our mall walls and floors crack and also some school are having cracks in there building. Until now im feeling dizzy, many of us leaving here feel the same as I do. Our house is made of wood so it really move a little during that time and I hide under the table coz the shock is really scary

[jadegil6]

I am very sorry for all of the suffering that the recent earthquake has caused, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are affected by this tragedy. I have some friends who have written to me that they have been feeling the same as you have lyrehc, and they have dizzy spells as well as being extremely nervous. The constant fear is causing them to feel ill. The aftershocks have been waking them when they have been able to fall asleep, and this continuous rattling of their nerves is taking a psychological toll on them. The false alarms about tsunamis also contributed to the nervousness problems
One of my filipino friends who has a small farm was tending to his crops when the earthquake happened, and he was so frightened that he just laid down on the ground. He says that he was so dizzy at tht time, and when the quake stopped, and he regained his coposure, he ran all the way to the school where his 2 daughters were, and was relieved to see that all the kids there were ok. He lives in southern Cebu, and is almost due east of the epicenter in Negros, which is about 100 km away.
Below is a chart of the earthquakes that have been recorded over the past 11+ years:

earthquake data 2012.jpg

[jadegil6]

As more and more seismographs are installed in the world, more earthquakes can be and have been located. However, the number of large earthquakes (magnitude 6.0 and greater) has stayed relatively constant since 1900.
There are several ways that earthquakes are measured. They are measured by magnitude and by ground motion/displacement and energy change. Below are the charts (from US Geological Survey) showing the forces involved in different quakes:

earthquake data.jpg

This table shows that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake produces 10 times more ground motion than a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, but it releases about 32 times more energy. The energy release best indicates the destructive power of an earthquake.

[Edwin]

The dizzy spells would make sense. This, I think, would be like being in any structure that would be moving, whether it would be a ship, and airplane, or whatever else. When the earth moves a person's equalibrium would be affected, and the mechanism that helps us keep our balance would be affected as well. I never thought about being dizzy as a result of an earth quake, but it makes perfect sense. We were just a few miles from that earthquake in Yellowstone National Park in the 1950s. We were in Gallitin Gateway Montana, which is just on the border of Yellowstone. We were supposed to go into yellowstone right where all those people were killed, but my Dad decided to take us in the week prior, so we missed being at that place where all those people were killed. The porch that we were sleeping on rippled, and it shook goods off the grocery shelves, as well as cracking buildings and windows. We has many after shocks the following week, but I was just a kid, and I don't remember an adverse affect from that earthquake. That was the only time I was near the epi center of an earthquake, and being about 14 years old, it didn't bother me.