Wall of rock rises out of the ground in the Philippines: new fault triggered large quake‏

As the magnitude 7.2 earthquake ended on Oct. 15, residents of Sitio Kumayot in Barangay Anonang heard an explosive sound like a thunderclap. Villagers watched in horrified disbelief as the ground cracked open and, with smoke and the stench of sulphur spreading, one side started to rise.

The emerging wall of rock and earth missed by a hairline the toilet of baker Menecia Bautista Aparecio, 43. “We will be living forever in fear, being so close to the fault line,” said Aparecio, who fears returning to her home and now bakes her “pan Bisaya” or “pan kinamot,” a local bread, in the village chapel. The rock face, about three meters high and two kilometers long, raised fears among villagers that more cracks would appear on the ground and swallow them up.

Scientists, who may declare a 300-meter permanent danger zone around the fault, described the appearance of the ground rupture as a “eureka” moment in their search for what they have long suspected was an active earthquake fault in the area. Government scientists said the appearance of the yet unnamed fault, which does not exist on the country’s map of fault lines, triggered the powerful earthquake in Central Visayas. “We are 100 percent sure that this is the generator (of the earthquake),” Teresito Bacolcol told GMA 7 as he noted that the rock face appeared near the quake’s epicenter at the boundary of Sagbayan and Catigbian towns.

“When we saw (the fault), eureka! This is it.” Bacolcol led a team from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), which inspected the rock face last Monday. “We recommend that no structures should be built on top of a fault and within the five-meter buffer zone on both sides of the fault,”

So urce

Just when we think we know everything, out pops a fault line that was only 'suspected to exist'
It's a shame the earthquake was so devastating and it now looks like the people wh live near the new fault line are going to have to move. But now they know it exists, they can keep an eye on it.

Great find, OP. A few miles from where I live there is an area like that which is not yet declared to be a fault line, but we 'locals' watch it warily as there have been lots of small quakes in the area, the highest being a 5.1mag. I always had the notion that escarpments were formed from the land below dropping, but now I wonder about it all. Wish I knew and understood more about this phenomenon.

reply to post by sarahlm


Cool article.

Amazes me that they say they can't build structure within 5 meters (16 feet) of the fault though....who would want to be anywhere NEAR it? Seems that would be common sense.