05 March 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—THE HAZARD MAP OF MAY-on Volcano is expected to change significantly as 26 villages in three towns in Albay have been identified as high-risk areas by a team of government geologists and volcanologists.
Alex Baloloy, science research analyst of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) in Bicol, defined high-risk areas as those that face great threat from volcanic hazards such as lahar.
Many of these villages were not high-risk areas until mudflows from the volcano swamped them at the height of Supertyphoon “Reming,” according to the risk assessment study conducted by the team in December last year.
The four villages declared “high-risk” or highly prone to lahar were Pawa, Bogtong, Padang and Bigaa.
Daraga town in Albay has nine villages identified as high-risk: Malabog, Pandan, Budiao, Busay, Malobago, Culiat, Kilicao, Bongalon, Binitayan.
In Guinobatan, the villages of Masarawag, Maipon, Tandarora, and Maninila were identified as “high-risk” after it was “affected by deposition” by “Reming.”
Masarawag and Maninila, which are both eight kilometers away from the crater, were only “moderately prone” to lahar before the mudflows on Nov. 30 last year.
In Camalig town, the formerly “moderately prone” villages of Tumpa, Sua, Tibobran, and Quirangay were now declared high-risk.
High-risk villages in Sto. Domingo town were San Isidro, San Antonio, Fidel Surtida, and Lidong.
Legazpi City, Daraga, Guinobatan, Camalig and Sto. Domingo towns are all located in the southeast quadrant of Mayon where the crater rim is lowest, making it the pathway or depository of volcanic debris ejected from the crater.
Safety
The high-risk villages should be a no man’s land but it would take an “expensive” massive relocation to attain it, Baloloy said.
To date, about 3,000 families still live in 18 evacuation centers from a high 20,000 families displaced by “Reming.” Some of the evacuees have been moved to transit shelters in tent cities, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported.
Gov. Fernando Gonzales said the provincial government had been moving the evacuees to transit centers where they would be temporarily housed while waiting for permanent houses being built in relocation sites by government and nongovernment institutions.
Gonzales said his office had been careful in identifying relocation sites to ensure that it was safe and in the best interest of the displaced victims.
The final results of the Phivolcs study by a 10-member team of volcanologists and geologists have not yet been made public.
Baloloy said the study analyzed the mudflow resulting from “Reming” and was expected to reveal changes in the hazard map and other inputs to help disaster officials prepare for future emergencies.
With the thick deposit of volcanic debris that remain on Mayon’s slopes, Baloloy said the possibility of another lahar flow with the next heavy rains was always there.
Lahar flowed in Albay in 1984, which affected Padang in this city and Lidong in Sto. Domingo.
Another lahar flow occurred in 1981 which affected Mabinit in this city.
Last year’s lahar, which left over 1,000 people dead or missing, resulted in devastation in almost the same extent as what happened in 1814 when Cagsawa town was buried.
All that was left standing was the town’s church belfry.
Mayon’s alert status has remained at level 1 due to crater glow at night and some volcanic earthquakes resulting from the breaking of rocks and ascent of magma in the 2,461-meter volcano, Baloloy said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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