The Philippine Institute of Volcanology & Seismology station in Sibulan, Negros Oriental on Friday disclosed that small earthquakes continue in Valencia town.
Engr. Jose Molas, who heads the Phivolcs-Sibulan station, said he believes the minor tremors are still aftershocks of the M 4.7 quake that shook Valencia and neighboring areas last Jan. 27.
Hundreds of earthquakes have since been reported, of varying strengths though less than M-4.7, said Molas.
The latest earthquakes that Engr. Molas reported were on Thursday at 7:37 p.m., and prior to that, two on Feb. 24, one on Feb. 25, two on Feb. 26, one on Feb. 27, and one of Feb. 28.
These were so small and lasted for less than three seconds each and could not be plotted at the Phivolcs-Sibulan seismic monitoring station, according to Molas.
It cannot yet be ascertained when these tremors, which Phivolcs attribute to a local fault, will stop but Molas assured that the earthquake activities are dwindling.
Meanwhile, a Phivolcs team from Manila has confirmed that earthquakes can be felt every now and then in Negros Oriental because of the presence of two faults, the Southern Negros fault and the Negros fault system, north of the Province.
Aside from the faults, the Negros trench is also situated nearby, according to Phivolcs researcher Raymond Patrick Maximo.
According to the research specialist, Mt. Talinis (also known as Cuernos de Negros) is considered a potentially active volcano due to presence of thermal manifestation, although there has been no indications of any eruption in the past 10,000 years.
A volcano is classified as active and potentially active if it has recorded eruptions within the 10,000 years cut off period.
The Phivolcs team from the agency’s central office is in town to investigate two phenomena in Dauin town, that of the water turning blue in the Masaplod River, and the perceived widening hole of the Mag-aso Cave that is emitting steam. (Judy Partlow/Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
