Know scenario-based hazards to

reduce risks, survive - PhiVOLCS

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Oct 12 (PIA)—Scientists at the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PhiVOLCS) said there may not be any destructive earthquake in Bohol in the next centuries, but stressed that communities have to know their scenario-based hazards and risks to be equipped with the readiness needed to survive.

Supervising Science Research Specialist and geologist Jeffrey S. Perez, said this during the PhiVOLCS Infopress, a seminar workshop on understanding and communicating geologic hazards in Region 7, held October 12 at the new Capitol Ceremonial Hall.

The DOST PhiVOLCS partnered with media, information officers and disaster and risk reduction officers to make them understand and thus communicate geologic hazards properly without causing unnecessary panic and over-reaction that could even be more destructive than any natural disaster.

The gathering was also to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the destructive 7.2 magnitude earthquake that happened in Bohol in 2013.

He 2013 earthquake in Bohol happened at 8:12 AM on a holiday, October 15, 2013, and hit a magnitude 7.2 on the PhiVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale.

The major tremor, whose epicenter was located between Sagbayan and Catigbian, caused more than 200 deaths and displaced over 600,000 families.

The seminar workshop tackled understanding earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis and focused on explaining to participants the geologic terms needed for accurate disaster reporting and communications, which could be critical in preparing communities to respond to any disaster.

Perez pointed out that in the Philippines, PhiVOLCS record an average of 20 earthquakes every day, but only about 100-150 earthquakes are felt every year.

Unfortunately located within the Pacific Ring of Fire and with three active faults which PhiVOLCS monitors, Bohol would have to prepare and plan based on the scenario that any movement in the tectonic plates in the nearby Pacific Ocean, the potential movements caused by activities of Hibok-hibok in Camiguin and Negros Oriental’s Kanlaon, and the possibility of tsunamis generated by these activities.

Near Bohol, since 1900, PhilVOLCS thought the identified faults in Bohol are the inactive Maribojoc Fault, South Bohol Fault which runs from Loay to Tayong and then straddles the mountains up to Sierra Bullones and Pilar and the Bohol south offshore fault which runs offshore from Anda to Maribojoc.

Last decade, in an unprecedented move, the Bohol North Fault snapped and manifested in surface raptures that stretched for kilometers: a reverse fault that would be the Philippines’ first with an observable surface rupture.

Perez pointed out that in Bohol, from 1922 t0 2014, the most significant earthquakes are the 1922 earthquake which caused a magnitude 6.2 earthquake with an epicenter in Talibon, the 1926 earthquake with an epicenter in Jagna offshore which registered magnitude 6.2, 1941 earthquake that traces its focus in Getafe registering magnitude 5.8.

Then, in 1941, an earthquake that was traced in the Mindanao Sea recorded a magnitude 7.0, followed by the 1990 earthquake that happened offshore in Anda which tallied a magnitude 6.6.

In 2013, the earthquake which exposed the North Bohol Fault recorded a magnitude 7.2 with an epicenter in Sagbayan. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

DISASTER PRONE. Risk reduction in Bohol is better done with knowledge in hazard-based scenarios, according to PhiVOLCS geologist Jeffrey S. Perez. Steeped with potential natural disasters, Bohol is at the risk of earthquakes from its four faults, at least half a meter to 5 meters of tsunamis caused by slips of its offshore faults, ashfall from volcanic eruptions besides storms, storm surges, floodings and landslides. (PIABohol)