Quakes strike Southern Leyte town

TACLOBAN CITY — Residents of Pintuyan town on Panaon Island in Southern Leyte panicked as they woke up to an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 at 3:56 a.m. yesterday, followed by three other tremors, the civil defense office said.

The quakes, of tectonic origin, was also felt elsewhere in the province.

Myra Dolina, science research analyst of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the quakes were possibly caused by the movement of the Leyte segment of the Philippine fault zone.

Adriano Fuego, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, said no one was injured and no property was damaged during the successive quakes, the last recorded at 5:08 a.m. The quakes each lasted for five to 10 seconds. — Miriam Garcia Desacada, Sheila Crisostomo