Monday, November 06, 2006
Side section of Davao City hills weak: geologist
By Antonio M. Ajero
DAVAO CITY -- The top portion of Shrine Hills in Matina in Davao City is stable, but its anticline or flanks are weak, said Diana Kristina B. Velasco, senior geologist of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Southern Mindanao.
Velasco's group did terrain mapping of the area.
A terrain map designates the different landforms and their vulnerabilities, said Velasco in a speech on Davao's geo-hazards before the Rotary Club of East Davao recently.
"We have determined that the entire Shrine Hills, the highest portion at top of the ridge is stable. It does not have much movement. But the flanks are moving. They are weak and we know there are a lot of developments on the slopes," Velasco said.
She said the mines bureau and the Davao City Government are aware that there are new subdivisions whose developers have put in engineering solutions to the problem.
She said that generally the geo-hazards in the hills could be mitigated.
Velasco showed Rotarians sample photos of the Cherry Hills Subdivision tragedy in Antipolo, Rizal wherein 57 people perished and hundreds of millions of pesos worth of investments and property became either water or mud as a result of the avalanche.
"The good thing (that resulted from) Cherry Hills is that all subdivisions are now required to pass a geologic assessment by the mines bureau before developers are allowed to proceed," Velasco said.
She also presented images of the St. Bernard, Southern Leyte landslide wherein more than 2,000 lives were lost.
The terrain mapping and investigations made by the mines bureau showed that in the Davao Region it is Davao Oriental and some portions of Davao del Sur that are highly vulnerable to geologic hazards because they are part of the Mindanao eastern seaboard.
"The Philippines is a chop suey of natural hazards, with all disasters happening here except snow-related hazards," she said.
The Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, ranking among the top in the list in a study made by the United Nations.
"On the average, we have 20 typhoons a year, earthquakes practically every day, aside from volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods," she said. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
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(November 6, 2006 issue)
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