COMMON SENSE AND RESISTANCE The discovery of a sinkhole/cave in Poblacion 1 in our city of Tagbilaran has generated controversy and divergent opinions.Much less caused panic due to misinformation,speculation and trauma from the aftereffects of the recent quake that struck.Nevertheless we cannot deny the physical signs that we see with our own eyes. Without being technical about terminology, sinkhole or cave, it is evident that what collapsed exposing the subterranean feature was somehow an entrance,natural or man-made,covered over time and paved by the road that is now Franklin Street. Obviously this was the weakest point in the underground structure that was affected by the ground movement caused by the quake. The MGB through its personnel using their instruments have done surveys and issued recommendations relative to the observations made in the area.They will study their data further and no matter how many studies and opinions,second,third or whatever later wont negate the physical evidence we now see. But how should we make sense of all these? First and foremost we have to acknowledge and accept that things will never be the same.People have lived in the area all their lives without incident which is fine but now should be more aware and adhere to a new lifestyle. Relative to the existing infrastructure, MGB has acknowledged that it is an engineering problem which can easily turn into an engineering nightmare if we dont adopt changes into our way of thinking.We cannot continue to pretend that everything is okay.We have to adapt to a new normal with a heightened awareness of what is around us. For one,traffic flow should be controlled and open only to light vehicles.All others should be rerouted though inconvenient. Building codes should be stricter and strictly enforced not only in places where the physical signs are obvious.We cannot continue to overload the ground so to speak,building structures as we please,knowing now that we may be standing on precarious territory. We can continue to argue and deny that we may be far from areas of concern but this mindset should not exempt us.Obviously, others in the immediate vicinity should be more cautious and vigilant. The recent earthquake has taught us valuable lessons.The existence of various caves /sinkholes in our city and all around Bohol could very well have mitigated the disastrous effects of the strong tremor that struck. Geologists have written articles and opined that the effects of tremors are less in caves than on the surface as the shock waves generated are unable to travel through a gaseous medium , the air in the cave or hollow. The force arrives at the wall and displaces the air and is absorbed with little effect. While this can be observed with the physical evidence in our midst,all others we can approach with reason and sound judgment!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:39:31 +0000
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