1990 Luzon earthquake

The Luzon earthquake occurred on Monday, July 16, 1990, at 4:26 PM local time in the Philippines. The densely populated island of Luzon was struck by an earthquake with a 7.8 M_s (surface-wave magnitude). The earthquake produced a 125 km-long ground rupture that stretched from Dingalan, Aurora to Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija as a result of strike-slip movements along the Philippine Fault and the Digdig Fault within the Philippine Fault System. The earthquake epicenter was placed at 15° 42’ N and 121° 7’ E near the town of Rizal, Nueva Ecija, northeast of Cabanatuan City.

An estimated 1,621 people were killed in the earthquake, most of the fatalities located in Central Luzon and the Cordillera region.

Impact

The earthquake caused damage within in an area of about 20,000 square kilometers, stretching from the mountains of the Cordillera Administrative Region and through the Central Luzon region. The earthquake was strongly felt in Metropolitan Manila, Destroying many buildings and leading to panic and stampedes and ultimately three deaths in the National Capital Region, one of the lowest fatalities recorded in the wake of the tremor. The Southern Tagalog (nowadays Regions 4A and 4B) and Bicol Regions also felt the quake, but with low casualty figures.

Baguio City, Benguet

The popular tourist destination of Baguio City, situated over 5000 feet above sea level, was among the areas hardest hit by the Luzon earthquake. The earthquake caused 28 collapsed buildings, including hotels, factories, government and university buildings, as well as many private homes and establishments. The quake destroyed electric, water and communication lines in the city. The main vehicular route to Baguio, Kennon Road, as well as other access routes to the mountain city were shut down due to landslides, and it took three days before enough landslide debris was cleared to allow access by road to the stricken city. Baguio City was isolated from the rest of the Philippines for the first 48 hours after the quake. Damage at Loakan Airport rendered access to the city by air limited through helicopters. American & Philippine Air Force C-130s did evacuate many residents from this airport. Many city residents, as well as patients confined in hospital buildings damaged by the quake were forced to stay inside tents set up in public places, such as in Burnham Park, or in the streets. Looting of department stores in the city was reported. Among the first rescuers to arrive at the devastated city were miners from Benguet Corporation, who focused on rescue efforts at the collapsed Hotel Nevada. Teams sent by the Philippine government and by foreign governments and agencies likewise participated in the rescue and retrieval operations in Baguio City. One of the more prominent buildings destroyed was the Hyatt Terraces Hotel where at least eighty hotel employees and guests were killed. However, three hotel employees were pulled out alive after having been buried under the rubble for nearly two weeks, and after international rescue teams had abandoned the site convinced there were no more survivors.Luisa Mallorca and Arnel Calabia were extricated from the rubble 11 days after the quake, while hotel cook Pedrito Dy was recovered alive 14 days following the earthquake. All three survived in part by drinking their own urine and in Dy’s case, rainwater. At that time, Dy’s 14-day ordeal was cited as a world record for entombment underneath rubble.

The United States Agency for International Development was sponsoring a seminar at the Hotel Nevada when the tremor struck, causing the hotel to collapse. 27 of the seminar participants, including one American USAID official were killed in the quake. Among those who were pulled out alive from the ruins of the hotel was future Presidential candidate Sonia Roco, wife of politician Raul Roco, who was pulled out from the rubble by miners after 36 hours.