Quake hits Leyte; power out in some parts of Cebu

Tenants and renters side the Cebu Mariners’ Court rushed to their safety after the earthquake. (CDN PHOTO / BENJIE TALISIC)

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck eight kilometers southwest of Jaro, Leyte Thursday afternoon.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded the temblor at 4:03 p.m. with tectonic origin.

The areas which felt the earthquake at intensity five were Cebu City, Tacloban City and Palo (Leyte) and intensity four at Tolosa (Leyte) , Sagay City (Negros Occidental) and Burgos (Surigao Del Norte).

Quennie Sanchez Bronce, the reputation enhancement manager of Veco,  said in an official statement that the earthquake in Leyte affected power generators in the area and likewise affected power supply transmitted to the Visayas; thus, the power interruptions being experienced within the VECO franchise at the moment.

VECO gets power from three power generators in Leyte — Green Core Geothermal, Aboitiz Energy Solutions and Vivant Energy Corp with a contracted capacity of 85.75 megawatts.

“We will wait for further developments from Leyte, and if the power supply will not stabilize, we will have to resort to rotational brownouts in the VECO franchise area,” Sanchez added.

Virgilio Fortich Jr., manager of Cebu Electric Cooperatives 3 (Cebeco 3),  said that power interruptions were experienced in the towns of Asturias, Aloguinsan, Balamaban, Toledo City and Pinamungajan.

“Ni shutdown ang Toledo Power Company as part of their system and protection protocol. After 15 minutes, power resumed,” Fortich told CDN.

Intensity three was also recorded in Bogo City, northern Cebu and Calatrava (Negros Occidental).

According to Brigada News FM Bogo report, some barangays in Bogo City experienced power outage after the earthquake.

Libjo, Dinagat Islands experienced intensity two while intensity one was recorded in Roxas City (Capiz) and La Carlota City (Negros Occidental).