Norzagaray, Bulacan — All the earthquake drills in Metro Manila just might come to naught if the feared “Big One”— a powerful earthquake – comes and causes the collapse of the aging Angat Dam which is right along the West Valley Fault.
Following magnitude-7.8 earthquake that hit south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean Saturday evening, village chiefs from various parts of Bulacan, particularly those along the Phivolcs’ recently released Atlas of the West Valley Fault line, asked Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado about the Angat dam rehabilitation and what will happened if the dam collapses.
“The destruction it will cause is unimaginable if the 47-year-old Angat dam will collapse because not only the province of Bulacan will be wiped out but also big parts of Pampanga and Metro Manila,” the governor said.
The governor has been calling the attention of the national government to the dangers that the old dam poses if it is hit by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake,since he was still a congressman, then a vice governor, and now as governor of Bulacan.
Alvarado told the village chiefs from the towns of Norzagaray, San Jose del Monte, and Dona Remedios Trinidad, that even if residents of Metro Manila survive the “Big One,” they will still face an equally deadly problem.”They will die of thirst, for they will have no supply of potable water for a long time,” the governor said.
It is important for concerned agencies of the government to seriously consider dangers being poised by Angat dam, whose water reservoir is over the fault line,according to studies of experts, he said. Angat Dam supplies 97 percent of the potable water needs of Metro Manila, he said.
Angat Dam is located on the highest slope of the mountains in eastern Bulacan. From that height, he said, rampaging waters could be 30 meters high and wipe out villages along the way.
MANILA BULLETIN
