Better prepared than never
By Leonardo Micua
OUR sincerest prayers go to the people of Taiwan and the 170,000 Filipinos working and living in that country, hoping that with God’s miracle they can easily recover from the deep wound wrought by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck in the morning of April 3.
Said to be the strongest ever recorded in that country in 25 years, the earthquake destroyed houses, sent buildings dangerously tilting to their side, killed 10 people so far, hurt some 700 others and most of all put the livelihood of the affected people in limbo.
It was the biggest disaster that struck Taiwan in recent years, but knowing the people’s unbounded unity and resiliency, we know that the Taiwanese and the expatriates living in that country can easily get out from the hole and rise from the rubble of the quake.
As reported by the Department of Migrant Workers, it is a big relief to hear that not even one of the Overseas Filipino Workers in Taiwan was hurt but like all, were nevertheless shaken by the powerful temblor.
GMA TV described that the long talk about expected swath of devastation that may be caused by the long-anticipated ‘Big One’ in Metro Manila, happened earlier in Taiwan, which is the Philippines’ closest northern neighbor
This is the kind of devastation and we should really expect to happen when our own ‘Big One’ will come. But we hope it will never come.
Note that we have already learned our lessons hard when Central and Northern Luzon was rocked by also a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake during the fateful afternoon of July 16, 1990.
Despite being foretold that an earthquake of this big magnitude already struck Dagupan 100 years ago in 1890, everybody was caught unprepared by the quake.
Inscription on the walls of the belfry of the old Dagupan Church on Zamora Street succinctly stated that a strong earthquake happened in Dagupan in 1890 that flattened the old church to the ground.
Not wanting Dagupan to be caught unprepared for another big quake of that magnitude, Mayor Belen Fernandez ramped up frequent earthquake and tsunami drills in the city with the help of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
There’s nothing wrong with that. She wanted all the 31 barangays to design and adopt their own evacuation plan validated by Phivolcs to ensure that all Dagupenos would be saved if Dagupan’s and Pangasinan’s own “Big One” happens.
Some people may not understand why Mayor Belen has adopted the program on saving lives as a core program of her administration. They even laughed off her idea of giving basic training to boys and girls in swimming whose ultimate objective is when a tsunami or a big flood happens, they can save themselves and even members of their families.
Mind you, this one big program of Dagupan, giving basic training in swimming to boys and girls, was adopted by Laoag City. Now, Laoag City is rivaling Dagupan in producing champion swimmers capable of winning old medals in Region 1 Athletic Association Meets.
All these initiatives and best practices of Dagupan were prompted by the admission of seismologists from PhiVolcs that Dagupan and Pangasinan are surrounded by three active faults, each one capable of generating a ‘Big One’ any time in the future.
These are the Zambales Fault in the south, the San Manuel Fault in the east and the Manila Trench in the West Philippine Sea, about 100 kilometers west of Bolinao, capable of triggering up to seven-meter high tsunami.
Philvolcs, which has its own intensity meter installed at the Public Alert Response and Monitoring Center and a Tsunami Warning System in Pugaro and Bonuan, both courtesy of the agency, is confident that if the Valley Fault in Metro Manila will move and trigger a “Big One’ there, Pangasinan will be saved from devastation.
But according to Phivolcs, the people of Pangasinan and Dagupan have their own ‘Big One’ to contend with – either from the Zambales Fault, San Manuel Fault or the Manila Trench and must not feel complacent about it
Twice, seismologists visited Dagupan at the instance of Mayor Belen and each time they were with barangay officials, they pointed out the potential threat of the three earthquake faults surrounding the province.
Thus, the motto “better prepared than never” can yet save Dagupan from earthquake and tsunami.
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