By Christropher Lloyd T. Caliwan
MANILA, (PNA) — Almost to 1,400 aftershocks had been recorded until Thursday afternoon in Bohol after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Central Visayas, and expect series of tremors to continue to rattle the province of Bohol, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Science research specialist Mylene Enriquez of the Phivolcs Earthquake Monitoring Division said that as of 5 p.m.. a total of 1,391 aftershocks have been recorded in Bohol.
Of these aftershocks, she noted that about 28 were felt.
Enriquez said these series of quakes are still expectedto prevail in the “coming days or even months.”
“But it will not be as strong as the main quake,” shenoted.
Enriquez said a 5.5 magnitude aftershock was the strongest yet to struck the province.
Enriquez said it occurred at 7:37 a.m. Thursday with itsepicenter traced 18 kilometers northwest of Tagbilaran City in Bohol, which felt the quake at Intensity 6.
Phivolcs described Intensity 6 as “very strong.”
On the other hand, Intensity 4 (moderately strong) wasobserved in Dumaguete City, Lapu Lapu City, and Sibulan in Negros Oriental, while Maasin in Southern Leyte and Mambajao in Camiguin had Intensity 2 (slightly felt) shaking.
Enriquez noted that in the event of Intensity 6 quake,people could lose their balance; motorists would feel like driving with flat tires and very old or poorly built structures could have slight damage.
At 8:12 a.m. Tuesday, a powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquakeshook Central Visayas with its epicenter traced southeast of the town of Carmen in Bohol.
On Wednesday morning, two magnitude 5.1 aftershocks hitBohol.