On February 17, 2006, a massive landslide overwhelmed the nation when it hit the village of Guinsaugon in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte. It destroyed property and cultivated lands, and took the lives of more than a thousand villagers making it the most disastrous landslide event in Philippine history. After two years, the cause of the landslide remains unclear. Thus, the National Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of the Philippines Diliman in cooperation with the municipal officials of St. Bernard, Southern Leyte and the University of Waterloo-Canada organized the “International Conference-Workshop on the 17 February 2006 Guinsaugon Landslide” or also known as “Guinsaugon 2008” held last April 28-May 2, 2008 at Tacloban City.
The conference is the first international conference on landslide held in the Philippines. It was convened to obtain greater understanding of the 2006 Guinsaugon landslide and to develop measures to reduce the impacts of landslides.
Filipino and foreign geoscientists from Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Nepal participated in the conference. Topics of research presentations included findings on the possible triggers of the Guinsaugon landslide, analyses of other landslide events outside the country, and software and equipment developed locally and abroad to monitor these destructive phenomena.
The town of St. Bernard is situated at the foot of Mt. Kan-abag and is transected by the Philippine Fault Zone. According to studies, Mt. Kan-abag showed signs of past landslides due to adverse geologic conditions, heavy rainfall and earthquakes along the Philippine Fault Zone. Based on the records of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), and the accounts of witnesses, heavy rains and two mild earthquakes occurred in Guinsaugon prior to the landslide. Other studies also identified steep slopes, weak rock layers and clay minerals in Mt. Kan-abag which could have contributed to the destructive landslide.
Disasters like the 2006 Guinsaugon landslide motivate the authorities and experts to develop monitoring tools and risk management procedures to prevent greater damages. An example is the REDAS or “Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System” of PHIVOLCS which is a user-friendly software that can provide a rapid estimate of possible seismic hazards resulting from earthquakes. Another example is the method that provides accurate and cost effective landslide forecasting using wireless sensor networks (WSN) which was proposed by Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano, Ricarido M. Saturay, Jr., and Marc Caesar R. Talampas of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
For more information on the International Conference-Workshop on the 17 February 2006 Guinsaugon Landslide, please visit http://guinsaugon2008.com.
By MMRParreño
