Surigao tsunami scare a hoax

The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) declared yesterday as a false alarm the tsunami scare in Surigao City.          

Dr. Renato Solidum, Phivolcs executive director, said the text messages which circulated last Sunday that a tsunami was to hit the city as indicated by the retreat of seawater in the area had no scientific basis.

Solidum said no signs of tsunami had been observed in the city by Phivolcs experts and the tsunami monitoring facilities in Hawaii and Japan.

For one, seawater receded by only seven inches — not seven meters as reported — and this was just a normal occurrence during low tide.

Solidum said tsunami comes only after a strong earthquake and Phivolcs did not monitor any earthquake in Surigao last Sunday.

"And before a tsunami, you would normally hear an unusual sound. There was none in Surigao… These signs did not occur there altogether," he added.

Daphne Agonia, a science research assistant at the Phivolcs office in Surigao City, said that while the Caraga region has a lone volcano — Mt. Paco — it has been dormant for 300 years. — Sheila Crisostomo, Ben Serrano