Mapping of fault lines in Cebu done this year

Solidum: Cebuanos should prepare for a quake

Solidum

THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) expects to finish mapping the fault lines in Cebu this year.

“(This) is so that we will have a scenario that can be used as preparedness by Cebu province,” Phivolcs director Renato Solidum told Cebu Daily News after his presentation at a conference here yesterday.

Phivolcs identified in 2013 three probable fault lines in Cebu that may cause a series of earthquakes in the province. Two are situated opposite each other in southern Cebu while one is reportedly in central Cebu.

The hazard maps that Phivolcs is finalizing will identify the exact location of the fault lines and indicate which areas will likely experience ground rupture, ground shaking, liquefaction and landslide, among others, if the faults move.

“The ground shaking is more important because it will affect the whole province and beyond,” he said.

Solidum said earthquakes cannot be predicted and the likelihood of activities within these fault lines can never be determined.

“The Cebuanos should prepare. I don’t want to use the word ‘worry’ because it is not an action word. In cases like this, we always turn it into action,” he said.

Solidum said he is an advocate of “disaster imagination.” Appropriate solutions and preparedness measures can be achieved if there is a clear picture of what will happen during an actual disaster, he said.

“The picture needs to trickle down from national leadership to the individual in the communities. Otherwise, if we don’t have the same appreciation … then our efforts might not be synchronized or lacking,” Solidum told CDN.

A month before the fault lines in Cebu were identified in 2013, the province experienced intensity 7 of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Bohol.

Twelve people were killed while 96 people were injured during the quake. A total of 404,107 families or more than 1.9 million people were affected, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported.

Volcanologists found traces of the fault lines in the interior parts of the south, situated opposite each other, while another fault line is reportedly located somewhere in central Cebu.

Central Cebu covers the Cebu metropolitan area and the cities of Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, and Talisay. It also spans the mountain areas near the boundary of Cebu City and Balamban town and Toledo City.

The interior part of southern Cebu, meanwhile, includes the towns of Oslob, Ginatilan, Boljoon, Alegria and Alcoy. The towns of Boljoon, Oslob and Alcoy are in the east coast while Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, and Alegria are in the west.

“In general, in all parts of the country, as a rule of thumb, if the towns are near the epicenter, they will feel intensity seven to eight (should an earthquake occur),” Solidum said.

Aside from providing hazard maps for the province, Phivolcs is also offering various trainings on the simulation of earthquakes.

Solidum said the provincial government and the towns may avail of these trainings.

“We already trained Bogo City on how to use the software so they can simulate and have an imagination of the actual scenario of the earthquake,” he said.

The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council also underwent training and simulated an intensity-7 earthquake recently. The simulation showed that old commercial buildings in the downtown area were the first to crumble.

Solidum was in Cebu yesterday to speak on transformational leadership before human resource practitioners during the Public Sector HR Symposium and Philippine Society for Training and Development (PSTD) national convention.

He shared the organizational structure of his office, how it is run, what it does and the personal values he employs to relate to his personnel, among others.

The director spoke about what he calls his “EARTHly” values, which he promotes in his workplace.

EARTH stands for excellence, ambition, respect, trust and heart. He said these traits are what top management officials should exemplify so that the same can be emulated by employees.

He said “bosses” do all talk and no walk while leaders “put their lips on their hips.”

A transformed organization, he said, begins with a transformed leader.

Solidum encouraged his audience to act as genuine leaders, not mere bosses.