The Science Behind the Davao Earthquake

In the span of minutes, thousands of residents were left jolted awake — a bunch of houses were broken, millions in damages, and some lives lost. The unfortunate magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Davao Oriental has made a significant impact on the community. But on top of everything, how did it really happen?

There are several possible reasons why earthquakes occur. Seismologists pointed out that the earthquake that struck offshore Manay, Davao Oriental last Friday morning was caused by the movement of the Philippine Trench.

The Philippine Trench is an oceanic trench, or long, narrow cracks on the oceanfloor where two tectonic plates meet. Trenches are also considered to be the deepest parts of the ocean. The Philippine Trench is located east of the Philippine archipelago, spanning from Bicol in Luzon up to Mindanao.

“So yung Philippine Sea Plate gumigitgit siya sa Philippine Trench doon sa under the Philippine Archipelago. So yung sea floor natin bends and dives under the Philippine Archipelago”, said Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol in an interview from GMA News.

Bacolcol also explained that the tension of plates getting stuck while pushing against each other builds up stress and the sudden release of that tension caused the catastrophic event. Despite how dangerous it seems, it is still a natural process. Bacolcol also added that earthquakes and tectonic plate movements are unpredictable, so we would not know when and where they will happen.

The unpredictable nature of these natural disasters leaves us helpless — we have no control at all over them. What we can only do is to keep ourselves prepared at all times. Even just some proper drills or seminars about earthquakes would be more than enough to make us prepared.

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