CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – In these days of unprecedented natural disasters worldwide, the threat of collapse of the Angat Dam in real.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) held yesterday a massive evacuation and rescue drills at the Angat Dam as part of readiness plans in case of a dam collapse arising from a powerful earthquake.
Amira Ortega, acting operations chief of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), said the drill started at 9 a’m. in “two vital places” at the Angat Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan.
“The drill is a comprehensive preparation in the anticipation of 7.2-magnitude earthquake with a possibility of dam break in Angat reservoir area, located beside the West Marikina Valley Fault,” Ortega said.
She said that after an hour, another “contingent group in Calumpit also started rescue exercises for prospective victims” as the town would be among the first to be affected by a collapse of Angat Dam.”
“We must prepare for even the unexpected and we are anticipating the worst case scenario of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. We must be on track to improve and update our preparedness in order to ensure that the government can deliver even in a scenario wherein almost all are victims,” she said.
She cited studies from the NDRRMC indicating that once Angat Dam collapses, massive flooding would submerge low lying areas in Calumpit and Hagonoy.
But Ortega said evacuation areas have already been identified in these two towns in case of such situation.
This, even as NDRRMC said it has coordinated with the provincial government of Bulacan and the municipal government of Calumpit on the planned temporary closure today of the segment of MacArthur Highway from the Caltex station approaching Labangan 7 Bridge, near Calumpit Public Market, up to Labangan Bridge 1 in Barangay Caniogan to give way to the drills.
It was closed to all types of vehicles from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
Undersecretary Benito Ramos, executive director of NDRRMC, observed the drills at the Angat Dam and in Calumpit.
Representatives from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Philippine Information Agency, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Irrigation Authority and Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System joined local officials and residents in the drills at the two sites “to ensure the coordinated movements in every single detail in case of emergency” at the Angat Dam.
The drills were also joined by representatives from Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Public Works and Highways and Bureau of Fire Protection as “key players, particularly in relief and rehabilitation efforts,” Ortega also said.
