Capitol employees evacuate to the Capitol grounds after a Magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Masbate was felt in Cebu early Tuesday morning. | Contributed photo/Capitol PIO
Cebu City, Philippines — The Capitol compound remains safe with no damage incurred from the Magnitude 6.6 quake that hit Masbate and was felt in parts of Cebu on Tuesday morning, August 18, 2020.
This was the assessment of the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) following its inspection on the edifices at the Capitol after the tremor. The provincial government employees vacated their offices when they felt the earthquake around 8:03 a.m.
As of the latest bulletin issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the earthquake was registered at Intensity 2 in San Francisco town on Camotes Island, Cebu.
Neil Angelo Sanchez, head of the PDRRMO, said all the structures of the Capitol are still safe except the abandoned Marcelo Fernan Palace of Justice, which sits between the Executive or main Capitol building and the Legislative building.
Sanchez said that the Capitol employees were given the green light to return to their respective offices before 9 a.m.
“We did not see any major damage caused by the earthquake. In fact, at around 8:45 or 8:50, I already declared that they may return to their offices,” Sanchez told CDN Digital via phone.
The Palace of Justice, which used to house the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) and the Offices of the City and Provincial Prosecutors, had been condemned since 2013, following the magnitude 7.2 Bohol earthquake that was also felt in Cebu.
READ: Gwen considers demolition of Palace of Justice as it poses ‘risk’ to Capitol employees
Although the earthquake was felt in several areas in Cebu, Sanchez said the local disaster offices in the towns reported no damage due to the quake.
“We asked the [LDRRMOs] to submit reports. There are some who said they felt the tremor and others said they didn’t. There was no major or even minor damages reported,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Courts at the Qimonda IT Center in the North Reclamation Area (NRA) suspended work for Tuesday due to the earthquake.
Cebu City Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Macaundas Hadjirasul said it may be hard to follow health protocols in case the employees would be in a panic should there be aftershocks.
“In view of the earthquake this [a.m.], the unique make of the CCHJ, [and] the impossibility of observing health protocols in case of panic, work in Cebu City Courts is suspended today,” Hadjirasul posted on his Facebook account. /bmjo