Mindanao folk uneasy amid strong aftershocks

 

SAFER HERE Residents of Barangay Bitoon in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, on Monday set up makeshift shelters in a school ground for fear of staying in their houses, which might give way to strong aftershocks in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude 7.4 earthquake. —ERWIN M. MASCARIÑAS

By: Germelina Lacorte - @inquirerdotnetPhilippine Daily Inquirer / 04:40 AM December 05, 2023

DAVAO CITY — Residents in several areas in Mindanao could not rest after another strong earthquake struck Surigao del Sur on Monday, amid the continuing strong aftershocks from the main magnitude 7.4 tremor that hit off the province’s town of Hinatuan on Saturday.

The aftershocks from the magnitude 7.4 quake were also strong, reverberating in many areas across the Surigao and Agusan provinces, with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recording close to 2,000 aftershocks as of Monday.

The series of quakes have prompted many residents in Surigao del Sur, particularly in the town of Hinatuan, to avoid staying indoors and instead move into makeshift tents set up outside their homes and nearby school grounds.

At 3:49 a.m. on Monday, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Cagwait town in Surigao del Sur, at a depth of 30 kilometers (18 miles), some 72 km northeast of the town, the Phivolcs said.

It was felt at Intensity 5 in Cagwait; Intensity 4 in Surigao del Sur’s Tandag City and in Tarragona town of Davao Oriental; and at Intensity 3 in Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro City, and in Davao Oriental’s towns of Banaybanay and Lupon and Mati City. This was the second strong earthquake to hit Surigao del Sur and the latest in a slew of strong quakes—all concentrated in the same area—days after the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck off the coast of Hinatuan on Dec. 2.

From the Cagwait quake, the Phivolcs recorded 190 aftershocks, as of 1 p.m. on Monday, ranging from 1.8 in magnitude to 5.7 in magnitude.

Class suspension

On Monday, some local government units in Mindanao affected by the magnitude 7.4 quake called off classes while school buildings and other private and government structures underwent safety inspections.

In Davao City, Acting Mayor Melchor Quitain, who suspended classes in public schools and implemented a work-from-home scheme in all government offices, said it was done to safeguard the welfare of the public. This developed as Phivolcs recorded a total of 1,898 aftershocks as of 1 p.m. on Monday, with magnitude, ranging from 1.4 to 6.6, as monitored by the Phivolcs Bislig City station.

In Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur province, Mayor Kirk Asis suspended classes at all levels, both in public and private schools on Monday to give way for a thorough inspection of public infrastructures and to assess the damage that the city had incurred. Some cracks have been noted in the city’s Catholic church building, while part of Prince Supermarket’s facade had collapsed, following Saturday’s quake.

The Davao del Norte provincial disaster risk reduction and management office also reported the suspension of in-person classes at all levels in the cities of Panabo and Samal Island and the towns of Braulio E. Dujali, Asuncion, Carment, Santo Tomas, and New Corella to give way to building assessment.

In Mati City, Davao Oriental’s provincial capital, Mayor Michelle Rabat suspended all classes in public schools on Monday, even as the 2,697 people who fled their houses after the quake had returned home on Sunday after the Phivolcs lifted its tsunami alert.

In Agusan del Sur, residents asked the provincial and local governments to provide vehicles to fetch students in other areas of Mindanao affected by the Dec. 2 earthquake.

Panicking

Police Staff Sgt. Joseph Lambo of the Hinatuan police said Sunday evening’s strong quake sent people rushing out of their homes again.

“They were panicking due to the memory of the previous night’s quake,” Lambo told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He said police were checking for any further damage or casualties.

Saturday’s quake triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific region and sent residents along the east coast of Mindanao fleeing buildings, evacuating a hospital, and seeking higher ground.

There have been no reports of major damage to buildings or infrastructure so far, disaster officials told AFP earlier on Sunday.

A 30-year-old man died in Bislig City, also in Surigao del Sur, when a wall inside his house collapsed on top of him, said local disaster official Pacifica Pedraverde.

Some roads in the city were cracked during the earthquake and aftershocks but vehicles could still drive on them, she said.

A pregnant woman was killed in Tagum City in Davao del Norte province, the national disaster agency said, without providing details.

Two people suffered minor injuries from falling debris in Tandag City, about 100 km north of Bislig, an official said.

The Phivolcs initially warned of a “destructive tsunami” after the first quake on Saturday, expecting “life-threatening” waves, though none occurred and the warning later ended.

The recent temblors came some two weeks after a magnitude 6.7 quake hit Mindanao, killing at least nine people, shaking buildings and causing part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse.

Port project on Samal Island ‘destroyed’ corals

DAMAGED REEF The ancillary port constructed to unload heavy equipment for the construction of the Samal Island-Davao City connector bridge, as shown in this photo taken on June 8, is embedded on a living coral reef, according to marine biologist John Lacson. —PHOTO BY MARINE BIOLOGIST JOHN LACSON

By: Germelina Lacorte - @inquirerdotnet

Inquirer Mindanao / 05:02 AM July 08, 2023

DAVAO CITY—A marine biologist has raised the alarm over the destruction of corals in the offloading port constructed for the Samal Island-Davao City connector bridge.

Dr. John Lacson said a video has shown that the metal frames of the ancillary port recently built to offload heavy equipment for the construction of the bridge that will link Davao City and Samal Island actually embedded into the living corals of the reef.

“Although direct construction of the bridge is paused, an ancillary project of [the] DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), which is a seaport intended for offloading of heavy equipment, is being built within 25 meters of a reef adjacent to Paradise Reef,” he said.

Lacson the port construction violated the Philippine Fisheries Code which states that it is “unlawful for any person, entity, or corporation to perform activities that damage coral reefs.”

Lacson, a marine biologist with a doctorate on biological science in the University of Texas, said he had regularly visited the area to monitor the health of the reefs but when he first checked on the Paradise Reef on June 3, he noticed the metal structures of the newly constructed port.

Five days later, he decided to have a closer look and saw that the metal frames of the new structure were actually embedded on the corals.

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, reached by phone on Friday, told the Inquirer he would look into the concern.

“We just have to investigate. Tingnan namin (Let us see),” he said.

He said he was made to understand that “the construction of the Samal bridge project is being closely monitored by a team composed of [officials of the] DPWH, the local government and other stakeholders every step of the way.”

He added: “We just have to find out if this has gone through their scrutiny,” he said.

This developed as the lawyers of the Lucas-Rodriguez family, who owned the Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort and its adjacent Costa Marina resort on the island, petitioned the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to suspend or cancel the environment compliance certificate (ECC) of the bridge project because of the violations.

In a June 8 letter to Gilbert Gonzales, director of DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), the lawyers cited the construction of the port as among the violations. The port was not one of the activities identified in the project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report, the basis of the ECC issuance, they noted.

“[The construction of the port] was not listed in the preconstruction process nor was it included in the environment management plan,” the letter signed by lawyer Ramon Edison Batacan of the Batacan Montejo Vicencio and Valdez Law Firm read.

The law firm also cited the destruction of the corals, a violation of Section 96 of the Revised Philippine Fisheries Code: “Coral reefs have been damaged as a result of the construction and as the illegal construction continues in haste, there will be more damage. The activity being outside the identified and allowable [activities] under the EIA, its impacts including severe environmental risks and potential for pollution were not properly assessed. Due to the omissions, there are no mitigating measures in place.”

No action

The law firm said their petition was also sent to concerned agencies and officials, among them the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao, the Environment Ombudsman Program of the Ombudman’s office in Diliman, Quezon City, to Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and Secretary Bonoan, but had not been acted until now.

But Bonoan said it was the first time for him to hear about the lawyers’ petition to the DENR.

Lacson, on the other hand, said he had notified former DENR-Davao Regional Director Bagani Fidel Evasco about the destruction of the corals and the latter had asked him for its exact geographic location so that his office could act on the complaint. Evasco, however, had been replaced by lawyer Mercedes Dumagan, who is currently on leave.

Maria Antonette Andolana, head executive assistant to the DENR-Davao director, said by phone on Friday they would look into the complaint.

Coal Plant No Quick Fix for Davao City's Power Voes

The new coal plant near here proved to be no quick fix to the lack of electricity that is plaguing this city and other places in Mindanao.

The city is again suffering from three-to-four hour brownouts daily blamed on two factors—the drought that is commonly associated with the El Niño phenomenon and maintenance work on a unit of a coal plant that had become one of the city’s main sources of power.

“The power shortage is really beyond our control,” said Ross Luga, assistant vice president for reputation enhancement of the Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC), the city’s main supplier of power.

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“But we’re doing our best to minimize, if not to avoid, implementing these service disruptions,” said Luga at a press forum here Monday, apologizing to customers for the inconvenience.

The drought that has reduced the capacity of hydroelectric power sources was compounded by maintenance work on a unit of a coal plant under the Therma South Inc. (TSI), which is owned by the Aboitizes.

According to Luga, DLPC had been informed that Unit 2 of its sister company, the Aboitiz-owned TSI coal-fired power plant, will have to undergo maintenance work until Jan. 23, removing 50 megawatts of electricity from the Mindanao grid.

The previous week, DLPC started implementing rotating brownouts lasting for about an hour after the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (Psalm)-National Power Corporation (Napocor) failed to deliver the amount of electricity it was contracted to supply.

Luga said the power supply delivered to DLPC reached only 233 MW, not enough to meet the 320 MW demand.

He said power demand in Davao City can reach as high as 340 MW in peak hours.

Engineer Zandbro Chad Ramos, DLPC systems operations manager, said DLPC officials still don’t know the extent of the damage that El Niño has brought.

“If it gets worse, our brownouts might be a lot longer,” he said.

Luga said DLPC would be forced to project power demand and supply by the hour starting in February. “That’s how volatile our power situation has become,” he said.

“If all the generating capacities are working normally and the demand is not too high, there would have been no problem,” Luga said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao