President Ramon Magsaysay on the same day, instructed Social Welfare Administrator Pacita Madrigal-Warns to rush assistance to the affected areas. 
At a special meeting of the Cabinet, Magsaysay organized the Relief and Reconstruction Authority (RRA), with Manuel P. Manahan as Chairman and 

composed of representatives of all the departments of the Government, to determine the needs in each of the stricken localities.


Later the President issued a proclamation declaring the existence of a state of public calamity in Misamis Oriental and Occidental, Lanao, and 

Surigao and in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Ozamis, Iligan, and Dansalan, prohibiting the hoarding of prime foodstuffs and building material or 

their sale at prices more than 25% higher than they were a month ago, and authorizing the Constabulary to seize hoarded goods and goods sold at 

profiteering prices. 



The report of RRA on April 6, showed that the number of persons known killed were 225; injured, 898; number of houses destroyed, 2,997; number of 

families affected, 14,985; extent of disaster area, 382,737 hectares. 




Sources:
<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Journal, Volume 31, Number 5, May 1955, Manila
</li>
<li>
The Lanao Earthquake Philippines, Arturo Alcaraz and Roman Kintanar, Geophysical Abstract 156, April-June 1956.
</li>
<li>
Photo credit: Google Maps
</li>
</ol>

April 1, 1955: a series of very strong earthquakes jolted all of Mindanao and the southern Visayas