Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Hasten oil spill cleanup: Pagasa
THE Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said there is a need to fast track the MT Solar 1 oil spill cleanup before a typhoon affects Visayas in the coming weeks or before the wind pattern reverses in November.
Pagasa Officer-in-Charge Prisco Nilo said the entry of a typhoon that could affect Guimaras would accelerate the transport of oil spill to the north.
Nilo added that if a typhoon would directly pass the site of the oil spill, the ocean current will cause the oil to spill in different directions.
Meanwhile, Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro said that no tropical cyclone is expected to visit the country within the next 10 days.
Nilo, however, said the oil spill cleanup must be fast tracked before the wind pattern reverses in November that could possibly "transport" the oil spill in the vicinity of the Visayas.
He added that from the current wind pattern from southwest to the northeast, the wind pattern will completely reverse, resulting to the transport of the spilled oil towards Mindanao and Southern Visayas area this November up to around February or early March.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council, on the other hand, said that once the cleanup in Guimaras is over, a comprehensive rehabilitation program will be undertaken by the government, with the scientific community and the local government units, to bring back Guimaras to normal again. (PIA 6/ESS)
(September 5, 2006 issue)
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