Palawan safest, no earthquake faults RP Fault Zone one of world s longest at 1,200 km By Alcuin Papa Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 23:50:00 01/16/2010 Filed Under: Earthquake APART from the profusion of spectacular landscapes and seascapes that has made i t the favorite of many travelers, it would seem that the paradise island of Pala wan also offers the safest haven for those fearful of a Haiti-like tremor occurr ing in the country. Compared to other parts of the Philippines, Palawan is relatively stable geologica lly, according to Mahar Lagmay, a professor of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS). There are hardly any earthquakes in Palawan and certainly none strong enough to c ause major damage. The whole island is probably the most stable area of land in the country, Lagmay said. An expert on earthquake faults, Lagmay has constructed a map of earthquake epice nters which he plotted using information from the United States Geological Surve y (USGS) from 1929 to 2009. Lagmay said there were hardly any active faults under the island compared to the rest of the country. (A fault or fault line is a fracture in the rock within th e earth s crust that is the causal location of most earthquakes.) Continental, not oceanic, rock While Palawan does have fault lines, these are old and experts are still debating whether these fault lines are active or not, Lagmay said. For instance, there is an ongoing and heated debate on whether the Ulugan Bay fa ult near the famed Palawan Underground River is active, Lagmay said. Lagmay believes Palawan is stable largely because the island was once part of co ntinental Asia which separated around 100 million years ago and drifted toward t he Philippines. The rock of the island is continental and different from other parts of the count ry, which is made of oceanic rock, he said. Hence, the crust of the island is thicker at 30 kilometers, compared to the ocea nic rock s 12 km, having derived from the Pacific seabed. The crust of the island is thicker and older and, therefore, not as prone to eart hquakes, said Lagmay. No major faults The island is also not bordered by any major trench or fault line, he said. The South China Sea area is more stable tectonically. Combined with the continent al material, there is little chance for the development of active faults in Pala wan, he said. Also, the movement of the ground in the South China Sea is not as fast as the ea

stern side of Luzon, which is moving toward the Asian mainland at the rate of 7 centimeters a year, and the eastern side of Mindanao, which is moving toward the Asian mainland at 10 cm a year. Because of the slow movement, there is no compression of forces in the island, may said. On the other hand, large parts of the Philippine archipelago are sandwiched betw een two trenches, the Manila Trench in the west and the Philippine Trench in the east. Movements in these trenches generate stress in the faults. That is why there are so many earthquakes in the mainland [Philippines], he said. If you ask me where I would build a house in the country, I d say Palawan, he said. Longest fault system According to Lagmay, the Philippines is encased in an intricate network of trenc hes and faults that is one of the most, if not the most complex in the world in terms of tectonics and geology. The centerpiece of the country s fault system is the Philippine Fault Zone (PFZ) w hich is one of the longest in the world at around 1,200 km. The PFZ starts in Aparri and snakes past the Cordilleras, passing through Nueva Ecija, down to Quezon and the Bondoc Peninsula into Leyte, and from there skippi ng into northern Mindanao to the southern end of the island into Davao. The PFZ, Lagmay explained, is a left-lateral strike slip fault. This means that if you were to put one foot on one side of the fault and the other foot on the o ther side of the fault, the left side of the fault would be moving toward you wh ile the right side would be moving away from you. Also, the right side, or block , would be more advanced than the left block. A strike-slip fault means the two blocks are moving against each other horizonta lly. Lagmay explained that the length of the fault is related to its capacity to gene rate a large- magnitude earthquake. The larger the fault, the greater its potential to produce a strong earthquake, said. In 1990, the PFZ generated a 7.9-magnitude quake that shook Metro Manila and Luz on. Underwater trenches Other earthquake fault lines are the trenches running underwater on the western and eastern sides of the country. There is the Manila Trench on the west of the country which runs from the Batane s islands, curving through the waters off the Ilocos region, Pangasinan, Zambale s and into Mindoro island. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), movement in the Manila Trench caused the Jan. 12 magnitude 5.2 earthquake near O longapo City that was felt in Metro Manila. he Lag

There is also the longer Philippine Trench located underwater east of the countr y. It runs roughly from waters off Aurora down to Samar, and past Mindanao. Other underwater trenches in the country include the East Luzon Trough, the Negr os Trench that is connected to the Sulu Trench, and the Cotabato Trench. Smaller faults In addition, there are also the smaller faults. Notable of the smaller fault lin es is the Valley Fault System, also known as the Western Marikina Valley Fault S ystem, which is nearest to Metro Manila. According to Lagmay, Metro Manila was damaged heavily six times in the last 400 years by earthquakes. But the source of these earthquakes is uncertain. A study by the USGS and the Phivolcs in 2000 showed that the Valley Fault experi enced four large surface rupture events since 600 AD, occurring over a period se parated by between 200 and 400 years. The study also said the last fault event i n the Valley Fault occurred in the past 200 years. Lagmay said the Valley Fault is capable of generating an earthquake with a magni tude of between 6 and 7. Luzon, Mindanao faults Besides the Valley Fault system, other faults in Luzon include the West Ilocos F ault System, the Dummon River Fault System in Cagayan, the East Zambales Fault, the Iba Fault and the Lubang Fault. Fault systems in the Visayas include the West Panay Fault, the Southern Samar Li neament, the Central Negros Fault, the Cebu Lineament and the East Bohol Fault. In Mindanao, there is the Mindanao Fault, the Lanao Fault System, the Davao Rive r Fault, the Central Mindanao Fault and the Tangbulan Fault. The result of all these faults is that between 5,000 and 7,000 earthquakes occur in the country each year, or an average of between 200 and 250 quakes a day, ac cording to Phivolcs. But most of these earthquakes are not felt. Last year, Phiv olcs tallied around 210 earthquakes in the country. As we are talking right now, there is a small earthquake occurring somewhere in t he country, Lagmay said.