The military here has junked a proposal by some local officials to blast aquatic plants which block rivers along Rio Grande de Mindanao and triggered massive flooding in Cotabato City's low lying villages.
Instead, the 6th Infantry Division spokesperson Colonel Prudencio Asto said Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, Army division commander, ordered the deployment of soldiers to help volunteers remove water lilies that have been clogging the rivers.
"Instead of firearms, our soldiers will bring with them chainsaw and ordinary farm tools, to fight the threat of more flooding," Asto said.
Asto said Army engineers discouraged the use of explosive to blast off the water hyacinth which stretches up to about 10 kilometers long along Rio Grande de Mindanao and Tamontaka river, two huge rivers that criss-cross Cotabato City.
"Once blasted, the soil and silt attached to the roots of aquatic plants will scatter in the river beds making it shallow," Asto said. "We better cut the water lilies chunk by chunk and let it flow downstream toward the Moro gulf."
Public works officials who have been working day and night in removing the water lilies said the continued stay of vast water hyacinth at the columns of Delta Bridge and Tamontaka Brigde could weaken its foundation and could collapse anytime.
Commuters from Datu Piang, Maguindanao, who used the river as route in going to Cotabato City, told officials that huge chunks of water lilies are slowly moving downstream.
"We are in a very difficult situation now, we are bracing for bigger problems," according to Sultan Kudarat Mayor Tocao Mastura.
The torrential rains spawned by low pressure areas east of Mindanao swelled marshes in several towns in the first and second districts of Maguindanao, causing the inundation of some 200 barangays and forcing more than 350,000 people to evacuate to high grounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment