Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Damage from oil spill growing, sunken fuel tanker likened to time bomb (5:37 p.m)
MANILA -- The Philippines' worst oil spill is threatening to plunge one of the country's poorest provinces deeper into poverty, officials said Wednesday as they tried to contain a leak from a sunken tanker.
The Solar I, carrying 2 million liters (528,360 gallons) of fuel oil, sank Friday in deep waters south of the island province of Guimaras.
Provincial Governor Joaquin Nava said the oil spill has affected or damaged 15 square kilometers (10 square miles) of coral reefs, over 200 kilometers (125 miles) of coastline, 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of marine reserves, at least two resort islands and 50 hectares (124 acres) of seaweed plantations.
Nava said about a third of his province's 150,000 constituents live off the sea and an estimated 10,000 residents of coastal villages who rely on fishing are temporarily without livelihood.
"Only lately, we pulled ourselves out of the 20 poorest (provinces in the Philippines). Now I suppose we will be going back," Nava told The Associated Press, adding that the worst-hit economic sectors were tourism and fishing.
The Provincial Government on Monday declared a "state of calamity" in Guimaras, which allows the speedy release of relief funds in the area, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of Manila.
Valladolid town, in nearby Negros Occidental province east of Guimaras, made a similar declaration Tuesday as the oil slick approached its shores.
Coast guard officials did not know how much of the fuel oil has spilled out from the tanker, which is lying 900 meters (3,000 feet) under water.
An oil slick about 16 kilometers (10 miles) long was observed early Wednesday moving northeast between Guimaras and Negros Occidental, said Cmdr. Harold Jarder, the coast guard official in charge of cleanup efforts. Some portions of the slick have broken off.
He said oil was still rising from the sunken vessel but added that the flow was not as heavy as in previous days.
"It will be like a ticking time bomb undersea. Honestly speaking, we really have no way of knowing how much it has spilled," he told The AP.
"The spill itself could take months or even years to clean up. This shows how ill-prepared we are for this type of disaster," said Von Hernandez, Southeast Asia campaign director for the environmental group Greenpeace.
Hernandez said some harmful chemicals from the fuel oil will likely remain in the marine environment after the cleanup and enter the food chain.
He said local fuel tankers should follow international standards of having double hulls and avoid passing through marine reserves.
He said that while the spill isn't as big as others around the world, it is the largest so far in the country.
Last year, more than 300,000 liters (80,000 gallons) of fuel oil spilled when a tanker ran aground near central Semirara island. |
