Office of Civil Defense

• Government agencies mark active fault line in Mintal

THE CITY Risk and Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) partnered with the Office of Civil Defense and DOST-Phivolcs to mark the Lacson Fault line in Barangay Mintal during the  “walk-the-fault” activity to strengthen community awareness and earthquake preparedness.

The fault line was physically marked between the Mintal Barangay Hall and the gymnasium. 

Mintal is one of 15 barangays in Davao City transected by the active Lacson Fault. The city is known to have five active fault lines.

DOST-Phivolcs said the recent activity is the fourth “walk-the-fault” and the second in Mintal since they started in 2019. It aims to empower residents by making them aware of the exact location of the fault lines.

CDRRMO head Alfredo Baloran explained why Mintal is frequently chosen as the jump-off point for information campaigns.

“You might wonder why we are always here in Mintal, but Mintal is traversed by two fault lines, both of which are very large,” Baloran said. 

He added that the Third Congressional District is packed with fault lines, including the Lacson Fault, Tamugan Fault, Dacudao Fault, and the New Carmen Fault.

Baloran cited the recent earthquake in Bogo City, Cebu, where the town was built directly on top of a fault line that had been dormant for 400 years before it moved.

He emphasized that marking the lines is critical because they cannot afford for the five major fault lines traversing the city to remain unidentified.

Baloran also said that the CDRRMO officials could face administrative charges if they failed to inform the public about the fault lines. 

“It is important that we disseminate the information and that you are taught what preparations to make,” Baloran said. “It is better to be prepared. We can predict a typhoon—how strong it is, its effect, and where it will pass—but who can know when an earthquake will arrive?”

Protecting the markers

Baloran said they plan to install permanent monuments—large stones with arrows—to clearly indicate where the fault line starts and ends. He observed that previous early warning markers were removed, altered, or destroyed. 

Baloran warned residents against tampering with the official markers, as they could be punished legally. 

Meanwhile, Ednar Dayanghirang, Office of the Civil Defense XI regional director, said disaster preparedness is a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.”

Dayanghirang urged every family to internalize the information. “Our work is not for us; it is for you,” he said. “Our obligation is to serve you and save lives so that we do not reach a situation like in Bogo, where people died and many were injured.”