Mayor Benjamin Magalong suspended classes from kindergarten to senior high school on Thursday after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake that struck nearby Pugo town, La Union, prompting parents to rush to schools and fetch their children.
The evacuation of students from the schools caused mild traffic congestion across the city.
Students at St. Louis University-Maryheights Campus in Baguio City gather in an open field after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck La Union at 10:30 a.m. on October 9. The tremor was felt at Intensity V in Baguio City. (Contributed photo)
One university in the city continued its graduation rites, although the ceremony was briefly interrupted when the building swayed during the tremor.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded Intensity 5 in Baguio City, but no significant damage has been reported so far.
As part of standard safety protocols, students were evacuated from classrooms in several grade schools shortly after the quake struck.
Phivolcs said the tremor was also felt in La Union, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, and Bontoc, the capital of Mountain Province.
Thursday’s earthquake in La Union came just over a week after the deadly magnitude 6.9 temblor in Cebu, which served as a reminder of Baguio’s vulnerability, having been devastated by the July 16, 1990, earthquake, which required the city to rebuild almost entirely from the ground up.