C-5 Road, 3 Taguig barangays prone to liquefaction

MANILA, Philippines - A segment of C-5 Road that runs through Taguig is among the areas that may crumble during an earthquake due to a phenomenon called liquefaction, a city official said yesterday.

According to city rescue chief Ronald Galicia, C-5 Road cuts through Barangay Fort Bonifacio, which is one of the city’s three villages that lie along the Marikina West Valley fault line.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) defined liquefaction as the process by which wet sediment starts to behave like liquid. It occurs because of the increased pore pressure and reduced effective stress between solid particles generated by the presence of liquid. It is often caused by severe shaking, especially that associated with earthquakes.

Aside from Fort Bonifacio, the “populated” barangays of Cignal and Pinagsama are also threatened by liquefaction because they lie in “clay-loam” soil and situated near Laguna de Bay, Galicia said.

Galicia said they could not yet pinpoint all areas prone to liquefaction because their information technology personnel are still identifying them, based on a map given by Phivolcs, but they are already planning to conduct seminars on disaster risk reduction.

He said he gave the proposal last Tuesday and is just awaiting the go signal and the fund. Once the proposal is approved, he said the rescue team can start the seminars next week.

”Right now our priority is the awareness of the people because... We cannot do anything with the roads anymore they’re already there,” Galicia told The STAR in an interview in his office.

He added that the city government, through a P105-million calamity fund, has already purchased various rescue equipment that it will need to respond to various disasters like fire, floods, and earthquake.

Aside from Taguig, coastal areas in the cities of Marikina, Pasig, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Las Piñas and the municipality of Pateros are also prone to liquefaction.