The sitio, according to the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), is unsafe for human habitation and should be declared as a permanent danger zone.

Ilocos Region MGB Director Carlos Tayag had already asked the municipal government of Solsona to relocate the residents living in the area, which, he said, sits directyly on a path of debris flow which threatens the area during heavy rains.

Tayag made the recommendations during a recent briefing called by Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos at the provincial capitol to discuss the result of the post-typhoon assessment survey conducted last month by MGB.

The dredging of Laoag River to induce waterflow into the sea and reduce riverbank erosion and flooding was also discussed during the briefing, according to Tayag.

Tayag said the conduct of geohazard assessment in the area was to assist the municipality in its rehabilitation effort as well as to update and validate the results of an earlier geohazard study conducted  in 2008 by the MGB in Ilocos Norte.

 Specifically, the MGB looked into the geohazards of the six barangays of Solsona, which have been severely affected by debris slide, debris flow and flooding during Typhoon Mina.  These barangays include Manalpac, Maan-anteng, Puttao, Nagpatpatan, Santa Ana and Catangraran.

Also, Tayag said that a large portion of Solsona remains at risk to geohazards because it sits on developing and coalescing alluvial fans.

This prompted the MGB to warn the local government about human settlement at the foot of mountains; and areas immediately adjacent to river channels and near canyons, rivers and gullies transecting upland areas.

The MGB official also called for careful land use planning and management because of the “sensitive” setting of the municipality, and to stop activities like slash-and-burn farming, and to prevent further deforestation that would hasten soil erosion.

(Jonathan L. Mayuga)