Leyte quakes damage power plant, cause landslides

TACLOBAN CITY -- The Intensity 4 earthquake and two aftershocks that shook some parts of Leyte late Monday have caused damage to a power plant of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) in Ormoc City and triggered landslides that left some residents homeless.

Fred Algopera, PNOC resident manager, said they are still evaluating the extent of the tremors' damage on the Mahanagdong power plant, one of the two power plants in the boundary of Ormoc and Kananga town. The tremors also triggered a landslide in the Mahanagdong area.

Myra Dolina, of the regional monitoring center of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Palo, Leyte, said the first quake, which registered Intensity 4 on the Richter scale, struck Leyte at 6:15 Monday night. It was felt at Intensity 2 in Cebu City.

The second tremor came at 7:35 p.m. and the third at 9:52 p.m. Both were felt at Intensity 4 in Ormoc.

The temblors caused an hour-long power outage in all of Ormoc City due to the damage they wreaked on the Mahanagdong power plant, the main power source in Eastern Visayas.

Several electric posts were knocked down, and at least 30 houses made of light materials in Barangay Cabingan were destroyed.

Barangay head Eulogio Paquiao said affected residents are now housed in schoolhouses while the earthquake damage is being assessed.

Another landslide occurred in Barangay Gaas, 40 kilometers southeast of Ormoc.

The Office of Civil Defense has sent emergency relief assistance to the affected areas, according to regional director Teodoro Bulan.