Written by Joe Espiritu
Bohol Sunday Post columnist
The ABC meeting this February discussed about the disasters that might happen in Jagna. First, they talked of landslides. The Mayana slippage was cited as an example. Unlike the disaster in Southern Leyte, the land movement was gradual that inhabitants of the affected area in Mayana were able to move out before the disaster struck.
The Mayana soil is clay loam. Once under the ancient seas, a convulsion forced the seabed upward to form the Mayana mountains. Seashells, usually univalves can still be found in the farms. Decaying vegetation added an organic layer making the Mayana farms fertile. The foundations of the soil layer must still be loose since heavy rains caused the slippage.
There was a slide in the foothills of Laca once. However, no houses were damaged since it hit a non residential place. Since the slide happened in the slopes, a tremor might have created a fault to loosen the foundation. However, the base was firm that only a small volume shifted, not enough to cause alarm. The terrain would be as if those observed in the side cuts, in the Bohol National Highway, closely packed limestone layers formed a firm base not easy to dislodge.
What is interesting is; if the land surface shifted several meters away, who would own the place? Would it be the owners whose land had been covered by the slide or would it be the owner whose land had moved? If the land survey were based on the Global Positioning System, the owner of the first category would possess a land bare of vegetation. The owner of the second category would exult if the soil that covered his land is fertile or he would curse if the soil were karst or limestone.
The other disaster the ABC discussed was tsunamis, big waves caused by undersea disturbance. It is not likely that Jagna will be hit by waves so big to cause catastrophes. Big submarine disturbances happen usually in continental shelves. The one that hit Aceh province of Indonesia, the beach resorts of Thailand, Bangladesh and as far as Madagascar was caused by the movement of the Asian continental shelf in the Indian Ocean.
Bohol is in Central Visayas. The farthest eastern limit of the Asian continental shelf is in the Philippine Deep or Marianas Trench running off the coast of Surigao to Isabela and farther north. Should an undersea earthquake will happen there, tsunamis would hit the provinces facing the Pacific. Yet, Bohol is not free from waves but the waves will not be so big.
An undersea earthquake happened sometime in the 1980s or hereabouts. An undersea fault in the Bohol Sea some say off Baclayon moved. The resulting quake caused the sea to recede several meters. When the sea surged back, it was barely above the highest tidewater mark. However, shore people were alarmed and literally took to the hills. They were afraid of what will happen next. Nothing happened. After a week, the evacuees went home bringing with them the joys of outdoor living.
The most likely disaster that will hit Jagna is storms. Female storms are most devastating. There was a storm center that hit Bohol from Guindulman to Valencia.
The name of the storm was something like Didang or Binang or whatever. She was considerate enough to let Guindulman celebrate fiesta San Lilio or San Dindin before she struck. Lightly built houses were vanished; coconut tree trunks barred the highway. Conches or budyongs were torn from the depths of the sea and washed ashore. Since Jagna is frequently hit by the winds, most citizens took everything as a part of life.
What the authorities should prepare for is the AIDS epidemic. Only the most fortunate and resourceful will be spared. Sometimes AIDS may be remedied with a gun or any deadly weapon but the welder would surely land in jail. Lest we be misunderstood, allow us to explain that the AIDS we are talking of is not sexual disease. It is a disease of the pocket Acute Income Deficiency Syndrome. Very contagious.
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