SAN FERNANDO CITY, July 25 (PNA) — The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) will deploy landslide sensors after it discovered Thursday signs of possible dangerous landslide zones in Barangay Nagyubuyuban, here.
This after Edna Patricia Mendoza, Phivolcs senior science research specialist, noted that a massive movement of underground soil has created cracks in the concrete flooring of several houses in the village while the landscape of adjacent areas had collapsed for about six feet.
It was learned that the cracks are signs of massive soil movement probably caused by an active crawling of soil underground which is slowly collapsing whenever there are heavy rains.
Nagyubuyuban, an upland barangay located around 10 kilometers east of the city proper here, is one of the recommended sites in the country for the deployment of landslide sensors by Phivolcs.
Mendoza and her team went to Nagyubuyuban after Dr. Renato Solidum Jr, wrote to Mayor Pablo Ortega, for the implementation of Phivolcs’ “development and deployment of early warning system” (DDEWS) for deep-seated catastrophic landslide program.
Erinia Judan, one of the owners of the house found with cracks, said the faults appeared after a heavy rain last year.
The danger zones’ were discovered after the city environment office here reported to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau about the presence of soil erosion and cracks in houses.
As such, Mendoza’s team decided to conduct an inspection in connection with the implementation of the DDEWS to detect landslide prone areas.
Mayor Pablo Ortega said they already prepared an emergency disaster plan to help the residents in the area.
Ortega, who visited the area last year, ordered the city disaster risk reduction and management council to properly assess the situation and come out with precautionary measures.
Mendoza said they would be installing landslide sensors in the area to monitor the soil movement.
The installation of sensors begun in 2008 in several areas to improve the monitoring of dangerous areas with regards to earthquakes and landslides. (PNA)