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| The destroyed Abatan Bridge that connects Maribojoc to Tagbilaran City |
Maribojoc is a fourth class municipality in
the province of Bohol. Located 30 kilometers southwest of Tagbilaran City, the
provincial capital, the municipality is composed of 22 barangays whose
residents are primarily engaged in farming and fishing. The municipality is home to one of the oldest
watchtowers in the country and one of the oldest Spanish churches in the
province.
Maribojoc
has a total of 20,491 people with a population density of 2.6 persons per
hectare as of 2010. Urban population
consists of 26.61% of the total town population. The population is predominantly young, with
30% of the total population aged 0-14 years old. The productive force of the municipality is
60%.
Land
formation of the municipality ranges from sea-level to very steep slopes. The
highest elevation of the municipality is 304 meters above sea level. The municipality only has around 18.99% that
do not experience erosion. Moderate to
severe erosions occur in the areas with very rolling to very steep slopes. While the municipality does not have a
sewerage system, water accumulated in the terrain drain towards Maribojoc Bay
on its southwest side and the Abatan River on its southeastern boundary.
A 7.2 MW magnitude
earthquake struck the province of Bohol at 8:12 in the morning of 15 October
2013. While the earthquake affected the
whole Visayas region, more particularly the island provinces of Bohol and Cebu,
the epicentre of the quake was located in Sagbayan town, 46.7 kilometers from
Maribojoc. This was the deadliest earthquake that hit the Philippines in 23
years. In the case of Bohol, the last earthquake experienced by the province
was in 1990.
The damage caused
by the earthquake to the Bohol province was estimated at USD50 billion. A total
of 809 people were confirmed dead, 877 people were injured and 8 people were
reported missing. In the case of
Maribojoc, while a municipal-level damage calculation is not available, several
key structures of the municipalities, including its municipal hall, public
market, centuries-old church were all damaged.
Several houses were damaged, and the bridged that connected the town to
Tagbilaran City, the provincial capital, became unpassable that people had to
take boats to cross to go to the City. This also affected significantly the
provision of disaster assistance and the delivery of relief goods to affected
families. The municipality lost
electricity and water provision for more than a week after the earthquake.
It was apparent
that the municipal government of Maribojoc was unprepared for the earthquake,
despite the fact that geological studies have already pointed out the high
possibility of the island province of Bohol and the town of Maribojoc to
earthquakes of this magnitude. The Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has already identified the
East Bohol Fault, the only known earthquake generator in the island and is
located 40 kilometers southwest of Maribojoc. Bohol is also considered one of
the seismologically active geographic areas in the country and the last
earthquake that the province experienced was only in the 1990.
However, a review
of the comprehensive development plan of the municipality indicates that this
possibility is not factored in its planning processes. In the preparation of the Maribojoc Disaster
Risk Reduction Management Plan of 2012, for example, topics discussed prior to
the planning process were on typhoons, floods, and other water-related
disasters and lesser on issues as earthquake and other related seismological
hazards. But hazards and risks related
to earthquakes were not factored, in such a way that when the bridge connecting
the municipality to Tagbilaran City collapsed, alternative transport systems
were not in place and made available easily. This indicates weaknesses in
planning for disaster risk reduction as also pointed in earlier study on
subnational approaches on disaster management (Benson, 2009).
The Need for an Integrated View of Disaster Preparedness
The case of Maribojoc resonate
with arguments about the lack of capacity of local government units to prepare
against disasters, as indicated in the researches mentioned above. But the capacity of LGUs to plan for and
address needs of communities when disaster occurs is also affected by a lot of
factors. The results of this study point to the following factors below:
- Nature of the disaster – typhoons have early warning systems that can be disseminated widely prior to the occurrence of the disaster. This is not something that is available to earthquakes and other related seismic events that can catch LGUs by surprise.
- Certainty of occurrence - While in Bohol, the existence of a fault line already warns LGUs and communities that an earthquake can occur, and given the occurrence of earthquakes in its recent past, the certainty that an earthquake can occur cannot be predicted.
- Adequacy of scientific infrastructure and systems – mapping disaster prone areas, identifying population at risk, locating safe locations for evacuation, and assessing earthquake resilient buildings, are capacities that require adequate infrastructure and system at the local level.
- Political will on the part of the leaders – Relocation of households at risk, or forcing them to evacuate to safer areas, require political leadership (see for example Ebay 2013).
- Cooperation of local communities – disaster preparedness is not just about preparedness at the local government level. Individuals and households should contribute into the process (see Luna 2007) by, for example, cooperating with the government in situations that call for forced evacuation. Households, in order to cope with post-disaster resource scarcity, should prepare packed provisions that can withstand several days after the occurrence of the disaster so that they can be adequately nourished while awaiting relief operations.
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