Trapped methane may cause explosion at Smokey Mountain — DENR

While the nation awaits the looming explosion of the Mayon Volcano in the Bicol region, the government issued over the weekend a stern warning for another kind of "eruption" that is likely to take place in Metro Manila.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday raised the alarm for a possible "methane explosion" at the Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila.

According to Reyes, experts informed him of the huge amounts of methane trapped beneath the former dumpsite.

"The methane was trapped underneath the ground when the government started building housing units and basic amenities for Smokey Mountain residents," Reyes noted.

"A methane explosion could be triggered by accident... residents (of Smokey Mountain) could be sitting on top of a ticking time bomb," he added.

Methane, a colorless and odorless gas, is used primarily as fuel. Concentrations of methane can be found anywhere in the natural surroundings, the DENR said.

"We could not sit here and allow people to die in a methane explosion," the DENR chief said.

Aside from a possible methane explosion, the experts likewise expressed "great concern" about the remaining mountain of waste adjacent to the social housing complex at the Smokey Mountain.

Smokey Mountain was a garbage dump until 1990, when former President Corazon Aquino ordered its closure and built a housing community for squatter families and scavengers that used to live there.

The DENR claimed that Smokey Mountain got its name from the heavy clouds of methane that rise above it when it was still used as a garbage dump.

Reyes ordered the National Solid Waste Management Commission to conduct an in-depth and comprehensive examination of the real situation on Smokey Mountain.

"If the government made a mistake of building a community on top of a big methane deposit, the error should be corrected immediately," Reyes said."What is most important is the welfare of the people."

The Smokey Mountain community now has 30,000 families. They are not only exposed to the dangers of a methane explosion every day, but to the risk of contracting cancers and other serious diseases due to poor sanitation.

There are 21 medium-rise housing buildings constructed in the area. — Katherine Adraneda