MANILA — The Quezon City Council on Friday passed a resolution adopting the updated “Quezon City Contingency Plan for Earthquake” in preparation for the so-called “Big One”.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has confirmed that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake might strike anytime due to irregular movements of the West Valley fault.
City Resolution SP 7460-2018, authored by Councilor Ramon Medalla, “aims to strengthen the city’s resiliency against human induced or natural disasters by recognizing the vision, policy framework and strategies capitalized on disaster risk reduction and management in Quezon City.”
The Quezon City local government intends to comply with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte for national agencies and National Capital Region local government units to implement the “two-pronged strategy” towards a “disaster-resilient greater Metro Manila area” and to align the existing contingency plans for earthquake by the national resilience team.
The revised “Quezon City Contingency Plan” details the standard response operations during a worst-case scenario during an earthquake following the prescribed “Revised Guidelines of the Office of the Civil Defense”.
Previously, the Phivolcs said there is an upcoming “Big One” that could hit Metro Manila and nearby provinces covered by the West Valley fault.
Metro Manila is composed of 16 cities and a municipality.
The disastrous earthquake is expected to strike three to four years from 2017, however, the Phivolcs confirmed the quake could strike anytime.
The Philvocs has been observing the two major faults or trenches in the Philippines.
When these faults start to move, a large area of Luzon would be affected by the expected 7.2-magnitude earthquake.
Meanwhile, the expected movement of the Manila trench in the West Philippine Sea might cause a devastating tsunami in the 14 coastal towns of Pangasinan.
Some studies show that a 32-feet tsunami could be generated by the disastrous earthquake. (PNA)
