November 14, 1994 Tsunami: Philippine Islands, Philippines

1994, November 14. A magnitude 7.1 Ms (Mw 7.1) (HRV) earthquake at 19:15 UT in the Verde Island Passage between Luzon and Mindoro Islands, Philippine Islands caused at least 87 dead and missing due to the earthquake and tsunami on Mindoro Island. Most of the casualties were children. Two hundred thirty-five people were injured. On Mindoro 797 houses were destroyed and 3,288 damaged and seven more houses were destroyed at Batangas, Luzon.

An international survey team with members from Korea, Thailand, the United States, and Philippines surveyed the tsunami effects on Mindoro from Calapan Bay to Subaang Bay, the southeastern coast of Luzon near Lobo, and the islands in the passage of Verde, Baco Island, Silonay Island and Anaganahao Island. A local tsunami occurred with a maximum runup of 7.3 meters on the southwest coast of Baco Island at Sitio Pino and 6.1 meters on the northern coast. Eyewitnesses reported the water first receded 45 meters. There were no deaths on Baco Island and only one home destroyed. Three waves were reported with the second being the highest.

The tsunami produced a sound on its return like that of a landing jet airplane. It had heights of 1.5 to 4.0 meters along the northern Mindoro coast. One effect was the breaking loose of a moored, 4,000-ton barge in the Baruyan River sweeping it 1.6 km upstream. The wave penetrated upstream about two kilometers. This happened before the first tectonic tsunami wave reached the Mindoro coast and must have been due to a local landslide generated tsunami.

The heights ranged from 2.3 to 4.2 meters along the Luzon coast near Lobo. On Verde Island the maximum wave was 2.8 meters, and there was no damage or fatalities. On Mindoro Island the tsunami contributed to the damage in the Calapan and Puerto Galera areas. At Calapan the wave receded 100 meters and returned as a white line with a drumming noise. The tsunami was recorded on the marigram from Batangas, Luzon, with a height of about 20 cm. The marigraph was used to correct the runup measurements for tidal levels. The Lubang fault, the source fault, was a strike-slip fault.

(above ref #1315)

74 fatalities due to earthquake and tsunami (ref #2679)

78 people killed and 225 injured (ref #1053)

As of November 17, 1994, 62 people had been reported killed, 248 injured, 9 missing and over 800 houses were damaged and 3288 were partially damaged. 19 bridges were destroyed and the damage to roadways in Oriental Mindoro was estimated at US$26 million (Department of Humanitarian Affairs, Geneva Switzerland, internet announcement, 11/17/94). By November 22, the number of casualties stabilized to 74 while the number of injured was revised to 168, while a total of 53,389 families involving 200,024 people were reported directly affected by this event... Most of the tsunami damage was focused in the region immediately west of the Baruyan river and cast of west end of the Malaylay island, a small triangular shaped sand berm island at the delta of the Malaylay river. (ref #424)

Baco sustained the largest number of casualties, with 41 confirmed deaths resulting from drowning due to tsunami that hit the coastal area of Malaylay, San Andres, and old Baca […] Calapan, had the second largest casualty count, with 17 deaths in the village of Wawa, another coastal area struck by tsunami. Almost half casualties were young children who drowned during tsunami […] Calapan and Baca had largest number of damaged houses, the majority were located along the coastal areas that were partially to totally damaged by the tsunami […] Calapan and Baca had the largest number of damaged houses, the majority of which were located along the coastal areas that were partially to totally damaged by the tsunami. The total number of houses affected was placed at 7,566; 1,530 were totally destroyed and 6,036 were partially damaged. (ref #13610)