THE Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Cordillera Region will conduct an earthquake drill in Baguio City to enhance disaster preparedness of residents in case the Tubao fault line in La Union moves in an anticipated 7.2-magnitude tremor.
The OCD is asking the participation of all sectors – business establishments, schools and universities, hospitals, barangay officials and residents – to the “Baguio Shake Drill” activity on March 31.
OCD Regional Director Andrew Alex Uy said the 7.2 magnitude can cause very strong and highly damaging effect in Baguio–Benguet area based on the Earthquake Intensity Scale of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In 2014, Phivolcs discovered signs of possible dangerous earthquake and landslide zones in Barangay Nagyubuyuban, San Fernando City in La Union province.
The agency reported the massive movement of underground soil was probably caused by the active Tubao fault line that is slowly collapsing whenever there are heavy rains.
Cracks in the concrete flooring of several houses in the village have been documented while the landscape of adjacent areas had collapsed for about six feet.
Baguio City is likely to be damaged heavily once the Tubao fault shakes in magnitude 7.2 according to Phivolcs, says Uy.
Following the 1990 Luzon earthquake, state scientists reconsidered their fault models and thought it likely that Benham Plateau is still displacing Central Luzon and the Philippine Fault System to the west, and caused the 7.8 magnitude 1990 Luzon earthquake.
In a research conducted by Anna-lisa Dumaguing Orallo of OCD and published by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center in 2011, the 20-second or 50-second wave in 1990 quake developed a new east-west sub-fault, extensively devastated Baguio City.
“The earthquake produced a 125 kilometer-long ground rupture that stretched from Dingalan, Aurora to Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija as a result of strike-slip movements along the Philippine Fault and the Digdig Fault within the Philippine Fault System. The earthquake epicenter was placed near the town of Rizal, Nueva Ecija, northeast of Cabanatuan City (15° 42' north and 121° 7' east),” the research reads.
An estimated 1,621 people were killed in the earthquake, most of the fatalities located in Central Luzon and the Cordillera region.
Uy said the loss of life can be avoided by making the communities prepared when disasters strike.
Over a hundred personnel from the Baguio City Police Office, the Philippine Red Cross – Baguio Chapter, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Tactical Operations Group, the Department of Health, the Baguio Health Department, the Baguio City DRRM Council, among other institutions have signified their participation and support to the drill.
(Jessa Mardy Polonio)