An application offered free in smart phones and tablets running the Android operating system was ready with data from the US Geological Survey five minutes after an earthquake struck Luzon at about 1:15 a.m. last Monday.
Photo by Ding Cervantes
CLARK FREEPORT – Facebook and Twitter social networks sizzled and earthquake “apps” on smartphones and tablets came quick with scientific data after Central Luzon was shaken by an earthquake at about 1:15 a.m. yesterday.
Via the social networks, ordinary folk and celebrities expressed fearful reaction to the temblor.
Information on the earthquake from the US Geolological Survey (USGS) was immediately available some five minutes after the temblor, via the free application or app named “earthquake alert” in smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system.
The app quoted the USGS as saying that the quake had 5.9 magnitude with a depth of 35 kilometers. It also showed various maps pinpointing the epicenter in Zambales, in relation to the location of the app viewer.
But Bon Ignacio, chief of the Zambales Risk Reduction and Management Office in Iba town, cited official information from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) saying the quake was of 6.2 magnitude in her province.
She as well as PO2 Alexander Biernes of the Olongapo City police, said that as of noon yesterday, there were no reports of either injuries or damage resulting from the earthquake in their province.
“But it was strong enough to wake up people in Olongapo,” Biernes noted.
The quake, which also felt in Metro Manila, prompted a flurry of social network exchanges, often with expressed concern for the welfare of others and with responses from relatives living abroad.
But others had more imaginative reaction to the quake. One timonthygo_only1 tweeted: “GMA (former Pres. Arroyo) is at St. Lukes which lies directly above a fault line. And the earthquake happened in her province. She is one powerful figure.”
News anchor Ces Drilon tweeted “At first I thought I was just really hungry to be dizzy.”
A tweet supposedly from Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged people to “keep calm. Let’s hope the worst is behind us but it’s good to be always prepared for catastrophes that may occur.”
Actor Mon Gutierrez, meanwhile, tweeted his fears over plans of moving into a condo unit on the 37th floor of a building. “Bawal matakot coz we’ll be living on the 37th floor,” he said.
As the Department of Science and Technology, under the name dost_pagasa tweeted the numbers of Phivolcs, the Android app “earthquake alert” already had facts and figures on the temblor, courtesy of the USGS on the other side of the earth.
