PHILIPPINE Volcanology and Seismology director Renato Solidum warned on Monday the management of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport of unimaginable devastation if a magnitude-7.4 earthquake rocks Metro Manila.
Solidum said the government must learn its lessons from the magnitude-6.7 quake that shook Surigao City Friday night, killed seven people, injured over 200 people and destroyed the Surigao airport, buildings, roads and houses.
“We have many lessons to learn out of it, for Metro Manila and the other areas. [Several parts of Metro] Manila is prone to liquefaction,” he told reporters.
Among the threatened areas are the Naia facility in Pasay City and South Harbor, Port Area in Manila, he said.
“There must be a redundancy system. We need to have another airport that can withstand a strong quake, such the Clark International Airport. We have to decide,” he said.
The government may maximize the Batangas International Port or Batangas Pier, instead of the South Harbor Pier, to deliver goods to Calabarzon areas and the National Capital Region, he said.
“This way, we can help lessen traffic in the metro, reduce gas consumption and lessen the impact of a strong quake [at the Naia and Port Area],” he said.
He said the Surigao airport collapsed due to liquefaction, the process by which wet sediment starts to behave like liquid.
Meanwhile, volcanologists predict another temblor may be in the offing along the Philippine Fault Zone which generated last week’s magnitude-6.7 earthquake in Surigao.
Movement of PFZ’s Surigao segment triggered such earthquake and may have also “disturbed” any of the adjacent Leyte and Mindanao segments, possibly increasing chance for a new temblor there, noted Phivolcs science research specialist Rhommel Grutas.
“We can’t predict when that temblor will occur so communities atop such segments must prepare accordingly,” he said, cautioning about possible onslaught of another earthquake along PFZ.
Grutas said PFZ’s Leyte segment extends northwards up to Leyte island in the Visayas. PFZ’s Mindanao segment extends to Southern Mindanao, he continued.
In its latest situation report this week, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the magnitude-6.7 earthquake Feb. 10 affected almost 5,200 people in Surigao del Norte.