An alarming news’ spread that there will be a tsunami soon to strike Negros Occidental. It is because of July 12’s 6.2 magnitude earthquake that shook the Negros Island, specifically in Sipalay City. After that, two aftershocks had been recorded with 5.7 and 5.5 magnitude.
Many residents of the province got distracted with the quakes and most of them especially in the south part of Negros left their houses Tuesday evening and move to a safer place. This was confirmed by Civil Defense Office coordinator for Negros Oriental, Allen Cabaron. He mentioned residents from Bayawan City and Basay moved to other places even though there wasn’t any notice of tsunami alert.
To date, July 14, 2011 is great news to everyone for PHIVOLCS Earthquake Bulletins of latest seismic events subsided with a magnitude of 3.9, 042 km S 25° E of Sipalay City (Negros Occidental) recorded at 7:19 this morning. It makes the people calm and some of them had already returned to their homes while some still choose to be away.
However, Cabaron was calling the attention of the public not to panic with some text messages they received regarding with the tsunami that will hit areas close to Sipalay City. Sipalay was tagged as the epicenter of the offshore earthquakes and aftershocks that were felt starting Monday according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).
The provincial coordinator of Civil Defense also said, that it is because of the text messages that make the people panicked due to the consecutive earthquakes that hit Negros and Panay Islands over the past days.
Thus, Cabaron advised the people that it’s better to make a verification of whatever news or rumors they received. He furthermore said, that the public can ask the barangay and local government officials and the local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils before taking some actions like packing up or leave their homes instantly.