Science

Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

LESSON 1.2
Earthquake Epicenters
Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Learning Competency 2

Learning Objectives 2

Warm-Up 3

Learn about It 4
Earthquakes 4
Faults in the Philippines 6
Seismic Activity in the Philippines 7

Key Points 11

Check Your Understanding 12

Photo Credit 13

Bibliography 13
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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Lesson 1.2
Earthquake Epicenters

The Philippines’ plate tectonics, active volcanoes, and subducting slabs

Introduction
Every day, there are records of several seismic activities in the Philippines. It is always
possible that a strong earthquake may hit an area anywhere in the archipelago. That is why
it is essential that we take all precautionary measures to make ourselves safe and avoid

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

large damages.

Imagine yourself walking in a city with tall buildings, can you tell if these structures are
sturdy and stable? Do you think they are earthquake-proof? Buildings that can withstand
high magnitude earthquakes have a broad base and decrease in size as the building gets
taller. Have you wondered what will happen if we experience strong seismic and the
epicenter is in your city?

Learning Competency
At the end of this lesson, the given enabling competency should be met by the
students.
Describe and relate the distribution of active volcanoes, earthquake
epicenters, and major mountain belts to plate tectonic theory.

Learning Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to do the following:
● Define fault, earthquake, and epicenter.
● Identify the location of major faults in the Philippines.
● Describe the seismic activities in the country.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Warm-Up

Earthquake Simulation

Materials
● soil
● two shallow containers or shoebox
● small pieces of wood or toy block

Procedure
1. Make a model of the crust and the structures above it using two shallow containers
or shoebox, soil, and toy blocks or small pieces of wood. The first container will use
the soil as the crust while the second container will use toy blocks.

Setup for earthquake simulation

2. Put the containers close together and move them in opposite directions. Observe
what happened to the structures.
3. Repeat step two, but now move the containers tightly closer to each other.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Guide Questions
1. What happened to the toy blocks or pieces of wood after moving the containers?
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2. How will you describe the behavior of the soil inside the container while it is moving?
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Learn about It

Earthquakes
Earthquakes occur when rocks in the lithosphere rupture or move in order to release
accumulated energy and stress. They commonly occur along plate boundaries which are
made up of many faults. Faults are breaks in Earth’s crust where rocks move or slide past
one another. There should be an apparent displacement for a break or a fracture for it to be
considered as a fault.

Rocks along plate boundaries or zones of high stress are either consolidated or held
together by friction. Given enough stress, a fault will overcome the frictional force, and
stressed rocks will rupture to produce a new fault. These events release incredible amounts
of energy creating earthquakes. The surface where the slip occurs is called the fault plane
and the location below Earth’s surface where the earthquake originates is called a
hypocenter. It is also commonly known as focus. The surface directly above the hypocenter
is the epicenter. Most of the time, it is the area where the greatest damage takes place
during earthquakes.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Fig. 1. How to visualize the events leading to an earthquake

There are two different measures in describing the strength of an earthquake, namely:
intensity and magnitude.
● Intensity is a measure of the degree of shaking experienced in an area. This
description is a combination of what the people felt and the damage observed in the
structures.
● Magnitude, on the other hand, is a quantitative measurement based on
instruments. It relies on the data from seismic records along with other techniques
to measure the amount of energy released.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Fig. 2. Distribution of active faults and trenches in the Philippines

Essential Question
What are the major causes of earthquakes in the Philippines?

Faults in the Philippines

The Philippines comprises several subduction zones both in its eastern and western parts.
These regions are where tectonic plates meet making them responsible for most of the
significant earthquakes, terrible tsunamis, and some of the worst volcanic eruptions in the
archipelago. Also, there are some active faults and trenches where earthquakes frequently
occur.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Located in the Eastern part of the country are the East Luzon Trough and Philippine Trench,
while the western region has the Manila Trench, Negros Trench, Sulu Trench, and Cotabato
Trench. The Philippine Fault or Philippine Fault Zone (PFZ), is a 1 200-km fault zone
cutting almost the whole archipelago. It transects the Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao,
passing across Bicol and Leyte. PFZ accommodates the oblique convergence between the
Philippine Sea Plate and the Philippine archipelago. Aside from the Philippine Fault Zone,
there are also other active faults in the country, namely: Valley Fault System or Marikina
Valley Fault, Macolod Corridor, Lubang-Verde Passage Fault System, Mindoro or Aglubang
Fault, Sibuyan Sea Fault, Legazpi Lineament, Tablas Lineament, Mindanao Fault, and
Offshore Cebu-Bohol Faults.

Fig. 3. The 1990 Luzon earthquake was due to the movement along Philippine fault.

Seismic Activity in the Philippines

Even though the Philippines is seismically active, historical accounts of earthquakes only
started during the Spanish colonization in the late 15th century. These earthquakes are
subject of historical records before the instruments that determine seismic activities
became available. It was only from 1892 onwards that the instrumentally-derived
parameters for earthquakes were identified.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Fig. 4. Seismicity of the Philippines from 1990 to 2006

As shown in Fig. 4, there are already millions of earthquakes that occurred in the country.
Some of them are either too weak or too deep to be felt, but few have caused severe
damages. However, from time to time, large earthquakes occur in the country which result
in massive damages. Fig. 5. shows the distribution of strong earthquakes in the Philippines.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Fig. 5. Distribution of large earthquakes in the Philippines

Here are some of the destructive earthquakes in the Philippines according to PHIVOLCS:
● August 2, 1968, a magnitude of 7.3 and intensity VIII earthquake occurred in
Casiguran, Aurora. Two hundred seventy people died while 261 individuals were
reported injured. A six-story building in Binondo, Manila (Ruby Tower) collapsed
instantly while several major buildings in Binondo and Escolta, Manila were
damaged. There were also extensive landslides and fissures observed in areas near
the epicenter.
● March 17, 1973, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in Ragay Gulf located in
Bicol Region. Ninety-eight houses were totally destroyed by the earthquake while 270
houses were partially destroyed in Calauag, Quezon. Other buildings and structures

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

were also damaged by the earthquake, like the Sto. Rosario Catholic Church of Lopez
in Quezon, as well as the Hondagua Theater. What was remarkable during this
earthquake was the extent of the observable fault trace which reached the barrio of
Sumulong, Calauag that is 90 kilometers away from the epicenter.
● August 17, 1976, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred in Mindanao. It caused a
tsunami which devastated 700 kilometers of coastline in Moro Gulf, north of Celebes
Sea. In Region 9, there were 1,440 dead, 909 missing, 7701 injured, and an estimated
49,848 people were left homeless. In Region 12, 3,351 were reported dead, 1,379
missing, 2,227 injured, and an estimated 43, 534 individuals were left homeless. The
number of casualties and damages were the results of two possible reasons: (1) the
earthquake occurred just after midnight when most people were sleeping and (2) a
large tsunami struck the coast from different directions making it difficult for the
people to know where to go. This is considered as the most destructive earthquake
in the country, so far.
● June 14, 1990, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in Panay at 3:41 PM. It killed 8
and injured 41 individuals. Its epicenter was in Culasi, Antique. The largest tremor
reported was Intensity VII in Culasi, Antique, and Libacao, Aklan. A number of
residential houses, commercial buildings, and bridges were either completely or
partially destroyed. In addition, there were also a 2-km long fissure observed in
Balete, Aklan as well as landslides and sand boils which refers to the combination of
sand and water that come out from the ground during an earthquake due to
liquefaction caused by ground shaking.
● July 16, 1990, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in Luzon as a result of the
movement of the Digdig Fault, a segment of the PFZ. Its epicenter was located near
the town of Rizal, Nueva Ecija. It produced a 125-km long ground rupture that cut
from Dingalan, Aurora to Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya. The reported damage to buildings,
infrastructures, and properties reached a total of Php 10 billion. Structures directly
on top of the fault were completely destroyed. Areas in Baguio, Cabanatuan in Nueva
Ecija, and Dagupan in Pangasinan were among the most affected areas. More than
1000 people were killed during the earthquake, mostly as a result of the collapse of
buildings and other structures.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

In addition, the following were also included in the list of PHIVOLCS in surface-wave
magnitude (Ms): Ms 6.5 Laoag Earthquake in August 17, 1983; Ms 6.8 Bohol Earthquake in
February 8, 1990; Ms 7.1 Mindoro Earthquake in November 15, 1994; Ms 5.6 Bohol
Earthquake in May 27, 1996; Ms 5.1 Bayugan Earthquake on June 7, 1999; Ms 6.8 Palimbang
Earthquake on March 6, 2002; and Ms 6.2 Masbate Earthquake on February 15, 2003.

On February 10, 2017, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in Surigao del Norte located in
northeastern Mindanao. The earthquake generated a 4.3-kilometer rupture in the
municipality of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte. The earthquake was produced by the
movement of the Philippine Fault-Surigao segment. The highest estimated intensity was
Intensity VII. Damages to buildings, ports, roads, the collapse of Anao-aon Bridge,
liquefaction, as well as earthquake-induced landslides were also observed.

In addition, two earthquakes also occurred in Mabini, Batangas on April 8, 2017. The first
one occurred at 3:07 PM (magnitude 5.6) while the second occurred at 3:09 PM (magnitude
6.0).

Did You Know?

The West Valley Fault is one of the longest faults in the Philippines. The
fault moves every 400 to 600 years. Now, the country is preparing for its
possible movement that may generate a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and
expected to affect cities in Metro Manila. From a Risk Analysis Project
conducted by DOST in 2018, the total fatalities can reach 31 000, and the
overall economic loss may amount to Php 2 269 000.

Key Points

● An earthquake is the shaking of Earth’ surface resulted from the sudden release of
energy due to the movement of tectonic plates

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

● The point in Earth’s surface where the earthquake originates is called a hypocenter.
It is also commonly known as focus.
● Directly above the hypocenter located at the surface is the epicenter. Most of the
time, it is the area where the greatest damage takes place during earthquakes.
● Casiguran Aurora, Ragay Gulf, Mindanao, Panay, and Nueva, Ecija are areas in
the Philippines where the strongest earthquakes occurred with magnitude > 7.0.

Check Your Understanding

A. Identify the following.
1. It occurs when rocks in the lithosphere rupture or move in order to release
accumulated energy and stress.
2. The point where an earthquake rapture begins.
3. It is where the latest recorded earthquakes in the country took place.
4. These fractures in the Earth’s crust where rocks move or slide past one another.
5. The surface where the slips occur.
6. The measure of the degree of shaking experienced in an area.
7. Quantitative measurement based on instruments.
8. It is where the Ragay Gulf is located.
9. The earthquake that will cause movements on the West Valley Fault. It is what the
PHIVOLCS warns to prepare for.
10. The fault zone that cuts almost the whole archipelago.

B. Write true if the statement is correct. Otherwise, write false.

1. The hypocenter is located at the top of the epicenter.
2. The instrumentally-derived parameters for earthquakes started in 1892.
3. The hypocenter and epicenter are the same.
4. The most destructive earthquake—having a magnitude of 7.9—occurred in Luzon.
5. The Intensity of an earthquake is observed through seismological instruments.

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Grade 10 • Unit 1: Volcanoes, Epicenters, and Major Mountain Belts in the Philippines

Photo Credit
Introduction. Philippine plate tectonics, volcanoes, and subducting slabs.png by Tazmr is
licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography

Carlson, Diane H. and Charles C. Plummer. 2009. Physical Geology: Earth Revealed, 8th Edition.
New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Hefferan, Kevin, and John O’Brien. 2010. Earth Materials. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell
Publishing.

Levin, Harold L. 2013. The Earth Through Time. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons
Inc.

Marshak, Stephen. 2009. Essentials of Geology 3rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company.

Stephen J. Reynolds, et al. 2013. Exploring Geology, 3rd Edition. United States: McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.

Tarbuck, Edward J., and Frederick J. Lutgens. 2015. Earth Science. New Jersey: Pearson
Prentice Hall.

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