Mike Guimbatan Jr.
Landslide research ofKalinga State College

TABUK, Kalinga – A state college here assures upland communities prone to landslides that the loss of lives and properties can be avoided if the people are well informed of landslide susceptibility.

Dr. Eduardo T. Bagtang, President of the Kalinga Apayao State College (KASC) said a P3.2 million research project entitled “Development of a Non-Expert Tool for Site-Specific Evaluation of Rain-Induced Landslide Susceptibility,” aims to enable communities, as well as any individual or group interested in landslide prevention, to assess the land sliding susceptibility of their area using simple procedures and on-site tests that they themselves can perform.

Funding of the landslide research came from the Philippine Council of Industry and Energy Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (PCIERD-DOST). The Grant-In-Aid (GIA) of P3,245,435.00 for the project was released by PCIERD-DOST, through Undersecretary Graciano P. Yumul Jr., on Feb. 11.

Dr. Bagtang said the project also seeks to create a network of agencies and institutions concerned with landslide disaster mitigation such as the local government and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Apart from determining the water-bearing capacity of landslide prone areas, rain gauges will also be fabricated and incorporated in community-based early-warning and disaster-mitigation programs.

Balik Scientist Awardee Dr. Daniel C. Peckley Jr., who proposed the project, explained that “an informed and enabled community could be the most cost-effective measure we can pursue for minimizing the loss of lives and properties due to landslides.” He added that the project’s main study areas are Kalinga and other provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), as these areas are prone to rain-induced landslides.

Peckley explains that through this network, communities and local government units can gain access to expert advice on and assistance in implementing cost-effective mitigation solutions against landslides.

KASC also looks forward to using the inspection and test equipment acquired through the project not only for this particular research, but also for planning, designing and implementing infrastructure projects in the province.

Dr. Bagtang of KASC said the Landslide research equipment together with KASC’s other research and extension activities would boost the KASC in offering specialized civil engineering programs in infrastructure engineering and hydropower engineering.

“We need to train and equip our youth so that they would become the engineers who will plan and design the infrastructures that Kalinga needs in order to develop its vast natural resources and meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Bagtang said.