DAVAO CITY — An official of the Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) said residents should not worry on the recent tsunami alert in 20 provinces, including Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Davao Occidental.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Thursday morning issued the advisory for “sea-level change monitoring” after an 8.3-magnitude earthquake in Chile at 6:55 on Thursday.
Phivolcs said that there is no evacuation order in effect, however residents in coastal areas in the 20 provinces were told to wait and listen.
Phivolcs Tsunami Information No. 1 issued on September 17 at 6:55 PST.
The provinces were Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Quezon, Aurora, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, and Davao Occidental.
The US National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on its Facebook post said that “a Tsunami Advisory means there is a potential marine threat to boats or swimmers but not a flooding threat on land.”
Dante Donaire, operations officer of DRRMO, said the average tsunami waves that will reach the country will “measure only 0.3 meters.”
“So it’s not that dangerous that’s why there is no evacuation order,” Donaire told Davao Today in a phone interview.
Donaire, however, said residents should remain vigilant. He said that a tsunami is likely to take place once the sea recedes.
He said the DRRMO will also issue orders should there be a need to prepare for evacuation ahead of time.
Donaire said Davao City has 26 coastal barangays, with 21 of them with electronic early warning device systems.
He said that other barangays, which do not have an electronic early warning device will use manual warning devices including bells.
At least five persons were reported killed in the earthquake in Chile. Chile is located 17,140 km east of the Philippines. (davaotoday.com)
