New fault line offers possibilities amid woes

INABANGA, BOHOL, Philippines — The presence of state volcanologists and geologists in Sitio Kumayot, Barangay Anonang has initially pacified around 1,000 residents who earlier feared that a new natural formation here may further create cracks on the earth and “swallow them whole.”

Former barangay captain Mamerto Bautista Torregosa, 53, whose family owns a patch of land where an earthen wall has formed, said the experts gave them the idea that “so much energy had already been unleashed and therefore it would take years, even centuries, before a stronger tremor would occur.”

The area where the wall grew is believed as the trigger in the Oct. 15 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Central Visayas and left scores dead and hundreds of structures devastated.

Torregosa’s family has already returned to their house located around seven meters from the formation, which experts refer to as the “face of a fault line.”

Other residents, however, worried that they might not be able to return for good to their homes and live a normal life again.

“We will be living forever in fear, being close to the fault line,” said Torregosa’s younger sister Menecia Aparecio, 43, in Bol-anon.

Aparecio makes a living by baking bread, locally referred to as pan bisaya or pan kinamot. Because of the quake, she performs her tasks at the barangay chapel instead.

“Dili na gyud ko ganahan motan-aw sa nisaka nga yuta kay mora kog malipong.  Makahinumdom ko nga mibuto og kusog, morag dunay nagdahunog sa yuta. Murag lipak, nya nabuak ang yuta, mitubo. Nag-aso-aso, bahong asupre (I will never become used to looking at the soil that grew; I tend to get dizzy. It reminds me of the deafening sound, like that of an avalanche, during the earthquake. It was like thunder; then the earth cracked and rose. There was smoke and the smell of sulfur),” she narrated.

The break on the ground missed her house’s toilet area by a hairline.

Residents also worry about the 300-meter permanent danger zone that is in the offing; although even village chief Felix Mellama Camay could not confirm this.

“I couldn’t say categorically if it is okay or safe for community folks to go home at this time of the month since we could still feel aftershocks and hear rumbling underground,” he said.

Camay said he is not ready yet if a permanent evacuation would be ordered.

“I’m bothered because I don’t know yet how relocation and massive rebuilding would be funded. I must be honest that when I showed the higher-ups of the photographs I’d taken of the formation, they never assured something of significance, like funding and specific help,” he further said.

Emily Pisol, 24, a single parent of a four-month-old infant, said she saw how the ground grew.

She said at first she thought it was an illusion, having been badly shaken by the tremor. She witnessed the movement from her house’s door, which offered a vantage view of the area, and likened what she saw to scenes in an apocalypse movie.

 â€œMikurog akong baba ug tuhod (My lips and knees were shaking),” she said.

“Kusog kaayo nisaka ang yuta (The earth rose fast). Matter of seconds ra gyud (only). Abi nako tabunan mi (I thought we would be buried alive).”

Her account was documented by the eight-person team Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) of the Department of Science and Technology yesterday.

“Unta sultihan lang mi nila unsa gyuy tinuod ani. Pwede pa ba mi mopuyo diri o delikado na.  Dili gyud mi mahimutang. Ang mga bata gyud ang makaluluoy (I hope they tell us the truth about it, if we can still live here or it is already dangerous. We cannot be at ease.  The children are the ones who are so pitiful),” she added.

According to Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay, Project Noah executive director, their assessment result would be released by tomorrow.

Yesterday, his team flew an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for two hours over Sitio Kumayot, particularly at the three-meter earthen wall, and along a five-kilometer stretch of cracked earth where Torregosa’ family cultivated sweet potatoes, corn and rice.

The UAV collected 92 photos, which would be collated and stitched together to present an idea on the direction and orientation of the fault line splitting Bohol from Inabanga to Sagbayan, the identified epicenter of the temblor.

The lighter side to things is that the face of the fault line may offer an interesting site to visit among the curious.

Camay receives an average of four inquiries a day, via mobile phone, asking for directions as to how to get to the area.

“We are studying the possibility of turning this tragedy into possibilities that would benefit us. Wala naman tay mahimo ana. Pagbuot man nas Kahitas-an. (We cannot do anything about it anymore. That is the will of God). We have to live with that. That’s why nagpabuhat nalang sad ko’g (I had built a) signage at the crossing,” he said.

It was observed that while Project Noah’s assessment was ongoing, around 20 non-residents came to take photographs at the wall.

Sitio Kumayot is around four kilometers from the national highway of Inabanga town.  It is accessible via habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) at P100 per head. Just look for Camay’s signage. — /RHM (FREEMAN)