'Declare Ilocos village permanent danger zone'

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recommended a community in Ilocos Norte to be declared a permanent danger zone.

This developed after the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) found in its assessment that Sitio Bliss in Barangay Manalpac in Solsona, Ilocos Norte, sits directly on the path of debris flow.

MGB-Region 1 director Carlos Tayag said they specifically looked into geo-hazards in the six barangays in Solsona, which have been severely affected by debris slide, debris flow and flooding during typhoon “Mina.”

Apart from Manalpac, the situation in barangays Maan-anteng, Puttao, Nagpatpatan, Santa Ana and Catangraran, have also been evaluated.

Tayag said there is a need to declare Sitio Bliss a permanent danger zone and relocate its residents because it lies directly on the path of debris flow.

Tayag said a large portion of Barangay Solsona remains at risk because it sits on developing and coalescing alluvial fans.

An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast-flowing stream flattens, slows and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain.

The MGB also recommended to local authorities that any settlements should be avoided at the foot of mountains, areas adjoining river channels, and near canyons, rivers and gullies transecting upland areas.

Tayag called for careful land use planning and management because of the “sensitive” setting of the municipality, and to stop activities like kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) and deforestation that would hasten soil erosion.