Marinduque quakes could have triggered to free Bohol energy but... - Earthquake-Report

Severely damaged Baclayon Church in Bohol.
Construction started in 1717 and declared as a National Cultural Treasure
Photo courtesy of sidmaderazo

Two days before a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Central Visayas, an earthquake swarm took place in Boac, Marinduque epicentered offshore northwest of the island. 

Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said earthquake swarms are common. "In most cases, many of the quakes are non-destructive," he said. "But we don't discount the possibility of stronger ones that can be larger," he added.

A destructive earthquake shook Bohol, Cebu and surrounding provinces yesterday morning with the death toll now reaching 99 and continues to climb as rescuers still pluck victims from buried homes and collapsed buildings.The earthquake generated landslides that buried homes, destroyed or damaged churches including the oldest church in the Philippines, the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino in Cebu City.

The intriguing question is whether the Marinduque and Bohol quakes are related. We posed this question to Armand Vervaeck (Belgium), creator of Earthquake-Report, a popular website dubbed as "the best independent earthquake reporting site in the world".

Armand Vervaeck

Vervaeck emailed today his response to this blogger as follows:

"Nobody will be able to tell you as science isn't able to make prognoses in strength and time. Swarms are not unusual and 98/100 nothing important happens thereafter. In some cases (like in l'Aquila Italy) swarms are precursors of something bigger to come. So I don't think that something will happen BUT we are not really sure about this :))

"Taken into account the location of the Marinduque quakes, they could also have been the trigger to free the Bohol energy BUT nobody will be able to prove that..."

Philvocs director Solidum said the quake "has energy equivalent to around 32 Hiroshima atomic bombs."

"Compared to the 2010 Haiti earthquake that had a magnitude of 7.0, this one had a magnitude of 7.2, slightly stronger," he said. 

Earthquake-Report continues to provide updates on the powerful Bohol earthquake with links to USGS, EMSC and other governmental organizations. Their page on this quake is automatically refreshed every 20 minutes. Read