Phivolcs reinforces Dagupan readiness for ‘Big One’
A team from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) was in Dagupan anew last week to fortify the city’s preparedness plans for an imminent strong earthquake that could trigger a devastating tsunami.
Members of the team delivered lectures during the two-day “Handa Ka Na Na?” Forum held at CSI Stadia organized by the city government, led by Mayor Belen Fernandez, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and the Public Alert Response and Monitoring Center (PARMC).
The team pointed to the great risk posed by the Manila Trench, a fault line located some 100 kilometers off Bolinao, Pangasinan into the West Philippine Sea that extends from southern Taiwan to Negros Island in the Visayas. If it moves at a tremor of 8.4 magnitude, it could trigger a tsunami as high as 11 meters in Bolinao and up to seven meters in Dagupan City and other coastal areas of Pangasinan.
The series of mild to moderate earthquakes that rocked some parts of the Ilocos in December last year were traced by Phivolcs to be connected to the Manila Trench, prompting the Office of Civil Defense 1 to issue an alert to all local government units in Region 1 to prepare their people in case of a tsunami.
Phivolcs considers this devastating phenomenon as Pangasinan’s own “Big One”, different from Metro Manila’ s long anticipated “The Big One” that could emanate from the West Valley Fault line, with the impact expected to be felt up to Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna.
Those who attended the “Handa Ka Na Ba?” Symposium were city government officials and employees, barangay and school officials, and representatives of the business sector, among others.
Fernandez said as early as 2013 (her first term) she pushed for the construction of high-rise evacuation centers, one of which is located in Salapingao and the other in Boinuan Boiquig, funded by the office of former Senator and now Education Secretary Sonny Angara.
A third evacuation center is underway in Pugaro.
At the same time, she made it a policy that all school buildings to be constructed should be more than one storey so it could also be used as an evacuation center.
The Privately-hosted Evacuation Center program is also in place, wherein owners of high-rise buildings have committed to provide shelter to their neighbors when a tsunami strikes. (Leonardo Micua)
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