PHIVOLCS expert belies earthquake myths, shares app to scan fault lines

A PHIVOLCS specialist on Thursday debunked some earthquakes myths that circulated after consecutive quakes hit the three major islands in the country recently.

Science Research Specialist chief Arturo S. Daag said the back-to-back earthquakes were not all connected to each other because the country has several fault systems where quake occurs.

“Kung gumalaw ang (fault sa) Luzon, ‘di naman necessarily gagalaw yung sa Mindanao. May kanya-kanyang magkakahiwalay na fault system yun,” Daag said in his interview on GMA News’ Unang Balita.

Consecutive earthquakes were experienced this week in Zambales in Luzon; Eastern Samar in Visayas; and Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental and Surigao Del Norte in Mindanao.

Daag also said that the prevailing hot weather has no connection with recent earthquakes, saying weather only affects the surface of the earth but not the interior where the earthquakes originate.

“Ang init ng panahon ay hindi connected sa fault o sa earthquake natin. Kasi yung mga lindol ay nanggagaling sa malalim na lugar,” he said.

Daag said the origin of an earthquake which is called "focus" is located at 10 to 20 kilometers below the earth’s surface if shallow, or 150 to 200 kilometers below if deep.

Further, the PHIVOLCS Science Research Specialist chief encouraged the public to use the Fault Finder app http://faultfinder.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/ of PHIVOLCS to scan the location of different faults in the country.

Fault Finder users can check their location through the app to identify the name of the nearest fault in their area. The app will also show the distance of the detected fault from the location of the user.

“Mahalaga ‘to especially if you are buying properties , developer ka,” Daag said. —Joviland Rita/LBG, GMA News