A TEAM composed of the Department of Public Works and Highways Cordillera (DPWH), Office of the Civil Defense, the Philippine National Police and Philex Mining Corporation initiated a blasting operation July 18 to prevent impounding of water which may affect residents along the area.
Albert Mogol, Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) director and Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council(CDRRMC) chairman, said the blasting operations of three boulders was done along the Bued River at Barangay Camp 7 in Baguio City to divert the flow of the river and prevent flash floods on Kennon Road.
“Two months ago, there were big boulders coming from the mountains that fell at the Bued river which shows a danger of impounding of river and rain water and yesterday, there was an initial blasting operation with the help of Philex Mines but unfortunately it was still not enough to remove the boulders which why there was a secondary blasting conducted,” Mogol said.
The CDRRMC assessed around three to four houses would have been directly affected by the damming if the blasting operations were not done.
“We are doing this to avoid the temporary damming of the water because we want to prevent the nearby Barangays from being affected by the impounded water which will also affect Kennon’s road structure,” the CDRMMC chairman stated.
Kennon Road remains closed to traffic until the blasting operation were completed, while residents within a 100-meter radius of the blast area were evacuated.
“We will be assessing portions of Kennon Road if there is still a need to conduct blasting operations after typhoon Falcon for us to determine what other measures we can do to prevent the possible occurrence of an impending disaster along this national road,” Mogol added.
The CDRRMC chairman also assessed the passing of tropical storm Falcon in the region have not adversely affect Cordillera where preemptive evacuation proceedings were done in the different provinces and municipalities to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents.