In an effort to assuage the public on fears of an earthquake hitting Lake Balinsasayao and sending all its water cascading down to Negros Oriental’s shorelines, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology has issued a statement to the contrary.
“There is no threat of another earthquake here,” the Phivolcs statement quoted by provincial officials, said.
Earlier, Dr. Angel C. Alcala, an internationally-renowned scientist and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, expressed fears of such a calamity noting that the smaller of the twin lakes, Lake Danao, is sitting on a fault. There are four faults within the Lake Balinsasayao vicinity.
The Phivolcs told the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council that an earthquake’s main shock doesn’t hit the same area again.
We are reminded of what the Phivolcs had said after the February 6 Magnitude 6.8 earthquake, where they expressed surprise because the area does not sit on a fault. Later on, the same agency reversed itself, saying that the earthquake was caused by a “blind fault.”
If the Phivolcs was unable to map that fault that wreaked havoc in Guihulngan and neighboring towns, how reliable could they be in making such pronouncements about Lake Balinsasayao?
The point of this article is not to spread panic. It is not to make people fearful of what might or might not happen. But this is just a simple reality check. We are in the Ring of Fire and these things happen at one point or another.
We have two choices: confront it or flee from it. So if fleeing is next to inconceivable, let’s confront this fear. Much like buying a fire extinguisher for our households, let us plan for such calamities, while hoping that we may never have to live through one in our lifetime.
