Families returned to their quake-devastated homes in Eastern Samar
(central Philippines) yesterday, ignoring government warnings to relocate away
from danger zones.
A politician saw the stream of
people going back to their villages as a return to normality, and said it was a
good time for local governments to step up efforts to relocate families living
in the many danger zones in the province.
“We still need to enhance [safety
precautions]. There are many places here [that have been] declared hazard
areas, but the people have not relocated,” said Eastern Samar Representative
Ben Evardone.
He knew why, and so did the local
governments.
“We have nowhere else to go, that
is why we are trying to rebuild here,” Agence France-Presse quoted Rosel
Aruera, 20, a resident of General MacArthur town, as saying to explain why she
and her family returned after Friday night’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake destroyed
their home.
Near where her family’s house
used to be in the quiet fishing town, men, women and children picked through
the debris, looking for materials to salvage from their splintered wooden
houses.
The town faces the Pacific Ocean
on the country’s eastern seaboard, where the powerful earthquake struck,
triggering a tsunami alert that forced more than 200,000 people in coastal
towns up to eastern Mindanao to flee.
“We thank the Lord that no big
waves came, but still, the earthquake destroyed our home,” Aruera said.
“It was so strong we were thrown
off our bed and minutes later our floor and walls crumbled,” she said.
Hers was among 80 seaside homes
built on stilts using cement and wood, common structures in many coastal areas
across the country.
Repeated warnings
Amador Evallo, a barangay
(village) captain in General MacArthur, said the local government had
repeatedly warned people to relocate to safer areas inland.
“All of their houses have been
destroyed, and now they are trying to rebuild on the same spot,” he said. “But
what happens when another earthquake or tsunami comes? That would be
nightmare.”
The quake spurred tsunami
warnings from as far away as Japan, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. But only
waves of up to half a meter hit parts of the Philippines’ eastern coast, not
high enough to cause any damage.
The National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in Manila said most of the homes
destroyed were those made of light materials, while overall damage to
infrastructure remained minimal.
But NDRRMC chief Benito Ramos
said the quake served as another reminder for many local governments to improve
disaster preparedness and relocate entire villages away from danger zones.
“We are lucky this time. But we
can’t count on luck all the time,” he said. “We also understand that
politically it is easier to say they will relocate communities, but it is more
difficult to implement.”
Biggest challenge
“That’s the biggest challenge,
how to convince them to relocate to safer areas,” Evardone told the Philippine
Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.
One solution, he said, is for
local governments to build schools, health centres and other public facilities
in places far from hazard areas.
Since people frequently use
public facilities, they would be enticed to move near such facilities, away
from danger zones, he said.
Damage
Evardone, a former governor of
the province, spoke about one local official whom he did not name but praised
for showing political will and relocating an entire community. The official, he
said, bought a piece of land near schools and other public facilities and moved
the community there.
The Office of Civil Defence said
the earthquake, which struck 112 kilometres east of Guiuan, in the Philippine
Trench, caused more than 11.8 million pesos (US$280,700) in damage to public
and private infrastructure in the province.
Damaged were the Layug bridge in
Barangay Casoroy, San Julian, which was impassable; the Buyayawon bridge in
Mercedes; and the San Eduardo bridge in Oras. Cracks were also found on the
highway in Del Remedio, Sulat town.
Evardone said President Benigno
Aquino and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had assured him
that the roads and bridges in the province that the quake had damage would be
repaired immediately.
Aftershocks
Not all who fled their homes when
the tsunami alert was raised were going back. Ramos said 300 families remained
in various evacuation centres in two towns in Eastern Samar.
“Those who remained in evacuation
centres feared for their safety, as more than 200 aftershocks had been reported
since Friday night,” Ramos said.
The Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has recorded 271 aftershocks in the Visayas
and Mindanao since the quake struck at 8:47pm Friday.
Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum
said the aftershocks may last for several weeks or months after the main
seismic event.
“The initial aftershocks are
expected to be strong but will lessen in magnitude and frequency after some
time,” Solidum said.
Ramos said the remaining evacuees
were housed in public schools, gymnasiums and cockpit arenas in the towns of
Guiuan and Mercedes.
“Some of the evacuees even chose
to stay on top of trees,” he said. “They immediately went to high grounds even
before we issued Alert Level 3,” he added.
The Philippines is one of the
most disaster prone countries in the world, with an average of 20 typhoons
battering the island nation every year.
It also sits on the Pacific Rim
of Fire—a belt around the Pacific Ocean dotted by active volcanoes and unstable
ocean trenches.
Heavily populated urban areas on
the Philippines’ main island, Luzon, including the capital Manila, sit on or
are near at least four fault systems.
Most active fault
The most active of these, the
Valley Fault System, cuts through the eastern section of Luzon, including
across Manila and suburban areas to the south.
That fault moves once every 200
years to 400 years, the last time in the 17th century, seismologists said.
Ramos said a 2004 study jointly
carried out with Japan said a movement of the Valley Fault System could trigger
a 7.2-magnitude quake, flattening 40 per cent of all buildings in Metro Manila,
which has a population of 15 million.
Tens of thousands would also die,
he said.
“Friday’s earthquake off the
coast is reminding us that these faults could move any time,” Ramos said.
With reports from Jeannette I.
Andrade in Manila; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and AFP
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