270 Central Luzon villages face geohazards, new study shows

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Government geologists have finished a “geohazard” study identifying specific natural threats facing at least 270 barangays in 22 towns in Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and this province.

“The geohazard study has specifics on the location of the threatened areas, provides geographical coordinates, identifies in layman’s terms the specific hazards, explains the source of hazards, and offers recommendations to barangay officials on what to do to minimize the effects of such hazards,” said Orlando Pineda, chief of the geosciences office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Luzon.

Pineda said his office has sent copies of the geohazard study to officials of the threatened villages where his team has also been conducting an information and education campaign as many tend to ignore safety advisories, particularly evacuation, unless disasters had already struck their areas.

“It was easy to convince people in Barangay Paltik in Dingalan, Aurora to move to evacuation centers during heavy rains because a few years ago, they almost lost their lives to landslides,” Pineda said.

In barangays prone to heavy flooding from the Pampanga Delta, people often ignore evacuation alerts since they have been accustomed to floodings over the past years, he said.

He said over 270 barangays in 22 towns in Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga were identified in the geohazard study as being prone to flooding or landslides.

Pineda, meanwhile, said he support moves to desilt the Gugu Creek which runs along the eastern side of the anti-lahar megadike at the Pasig-Potrero River in Pampanga amid differences between Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio and Bacolor Mayor Buddy Dungca on lahar sand quarrying in the creek.

Panlilio filed charges against Dungca before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly allowing quarrying in the creek despite no permit from the provincial government.

Dungca, however, ignored Panlilio, saying that quarrying in the area was intended to deepen the creek and save the lives of people in Barangay Tinajero from being swamped by lahar deposits, which have accumulated in the waterway.

Only last year, Pineda said the silted creek overflowed and threatened the barangay. “There is a need to desilt the creek starting from the low portion toward the higher sections,” he said.

He also proposed the use of fabricated container vans to replace dikes, which often collapse during the rainy season.

“When an expensive concrete dike collapses, you won’t be able to piece the collapsed concrete together again. But if we stuff a container van with sand or gravel and use it as dike, it can be put back even if it is pushed away by strong current,” he said.