EDITORIAL - We've been warned

Health and science authorities reassured jittery Filipinos yesterday that any fallout from the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan was being blown northeast away from the Philippines. What was not reassuring was the revival of a warning by government volcanologists that the Philippines could be ripe for a major earthquake, with Metro Manila included in the epicenter.

The earthquake warning has been around for several years. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology explained that the warning is based on a Paleoseismic study it conducted in the 1990s, showing that earthquake faults move every 200 to 400 years. And there’s a major fault line running from the Sierra Madre through Bulacan, Rodriguez in Rizal, Quezon City, Pasig, Taguig, Muntinlupa, San Pedro and Sta. Rosa in Laguna, and Carmona in Cavite.

The last time the Marikina West Valley fault, now called the Valley Point System, moved was 200 years ago, a Phivolcs official said yesterday, adding that the magnitude of the quake could reach 7.2. That’s not as powerful as the Magnitude 9 quake that spawned a killer tsunami and devastated Japan last Friday. But Japanese buildings and infrastructure are designed to withstand powerful earthquakes, although the country was not prepared for the force of the tsunami. How many buildings, bridges and other infrastructure facilities in the Philippines are fortified against a powerful quake?

Japan continued to tremble yesterday from aftershocks that registered up to Magnitude 6. Strong earthquakes and at least one volcanic eruption have also been reported in other countries along the Pacific Rim, and no one can predict how long the violent shifting of the ground will last.

The warning about a powerful earthquake hitting the Philippines covers 200 to 400 years. The country could wait another 200 years before the big one hits, but it’s always good to be prepared for disaster. The warning of Phivolcs cannot be ignored. There’s no stopping nature’s wrath, but it’s possible to minimize the damage.