Leyte quake rattles residents, prompts hospitals to bring patients out to streets

Residents were rattled as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Albuera, Leyte on Wednesday morning, according to a report on News To Go.

In Ormoc City, CCTV footage showed men running out of a building as household items swayed during the quake that occurred at 6:26 a.m.

Patients at the Ormoc Doctors' Hospital in Ormoc City were brought out to the streets after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Leyte on Wednesday, August 23, 2017. Robert Dejon

Patients at the Ormoc Doctors' Hospital and OSPA-Farmers' Medical Center, both in Ormoc City, were brought out to the streets by hospital personnel for fear they may be injured.

However, the patients were brought back to their rooms after one hour.

A bank's glass door and glass wall shattered during the earthquake.

A report on Balitanghali showed that the fiberglass backboard of a basketball ring got shattered after it was hit by a tension cable.

Tables and chairs also shook inside a barangay hall, while in a house, the cover of a pot got toppled.

Acting Mayor Bennet Pongos announced the cancellation of classes in all levels in Ormoc City for the safety of the people.

Pongos said the structural integrity of buildings need to be checked first.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council head Ciriaco Tolibao III said disaster frontliners have already gone out to inspect the city for damage.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the earthquake was tectonic in origin and may cause aftershocks.

It was felt at Intensity V in Ormoc City and Albuera; Intensity IV in Pastrana; and Intensity III in Tacloban and Palo.

The public was advised to take precautions in anticipation of aftershocks.

In July, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Ormoc City. —With a report from Robert Dejon/KG/KVD, GMA News