ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR (Mindanao Examiner / May 11, 2012) – A 4.1 magnitude quake on Friday hit Pagadian City in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur, but there were no reports of damages, authorities said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake struck at around 5.49 a.m. and was traced 56 kilometers south of Pagadian.
It said the origin of the tremor was tectonic about 16 kilometers deep.
The quake trigged renewed fears in nearby town of Bayog where illegal mining activities continue unabated in the mountain of Balabag in the hinterland village of Depore.
There had been numerous deaths in the past in Balabag after tunnels dug by small scale miners searching for gold collapsed.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the whole area of Balabag is a danger zone due to landslides and fault lines in the mountain and aggravated by rampant mining activities allegedly financed by some local officials.
The agency has issued an order last month to stop all illegal mining activities in Balabag and other parts of Zamboanga peninsula, but police and military authorities have not acted on it for a still unknown reason.
Hundreds of families, mostly from other provinces, are into small scale mining in Balabag where hazardous chemicals, such as cyanide and nitric acid used by illegal miners, are polluting the environment and threatening the health of villages. (Mindanao Examiner)
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