PAGASA INSTALLS RAIN-GAUGES AS ALBAY BRACES FOR MORE LANDSLIDES

By CET DEMATERA

LEGAZPI CITY---Weathermen here said yesterday that they had installed additional rain gauges to the recently identified landslide prone villages across Albay as the province braces for more soil erosions due to already highly saturated land mass being brought by prevailing monsoon rains over Bicol since mid-December last year.

Landrico Dalida Jr, Bicol chief forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said that the rain gauges were installed in Oas and Manito, the two Albay towns with barangays most prone to landslides due to the month-long heavy downpour triggered by a tail end of the cold front (TECF).

Aside from the rain gauges, Pagasa’s newly-acquired landslide sensors would be set up and pilot-tested also in Manito and Oas, Dalida said.

“Actually these landslide sensors are just recently acquired by the Department of Science and Techonology (DOST). And we decided to have them pilot tested in Albay,” Dalida told The BICOL SUN.

Dalida also confirmed that the landslide threat in Albay is real due to the volume of rains that had already exceeded the normal threshold.

Until yesterday, Dalida said that their instruments had already measured rain volume of 578 milimeters, almost two folds higher than normal averaged threshold of 321 milimeters a month for Legazpi City and most of Albay towns.

“This means that our soil in Albay is really so saturated that its hilly portions are very susceptible to erosions,” Dalida said.

Quoting latest findings of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB), Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said that at least 52 barangays are prone to landslides, with 6,211 families or 30,658 residents who could be displaced.

Of these recently identified landslide-prone barangays, four where in Guinobatan; five in Pioduran; 17 in Ligao City; nine in Oas; 11 in Polangui; and six in Libon, Salceda said. Half of Manito’s area is landslide-threatened.

On Thursday, at least six houses were destroyed when a landslide occured in the farflung village of Calaguimit in Oas town. The six families plus 24 more landslide-threatened houselds were already housed at six giant UNICEF-donated tents in the safe portion of Calaguimit.

“We have to brace for the worst as we maintain our resolve to attain zero casualty in our province,” Salceda told The BICOL SUN.

A series of integrated drills through demo competitions to enhance Albay’s disaster risk reduction (DRR) preparedness was started yesterday.

Salceda said actual earthquake and fire drills ad rescue scenarios would be carried out involving the different concerned search and rescue agencies. (cet dematera)