DAGUPAN CITY : A Case Study

Physical Development of Dagupan City

Spanish writers described Dagupan as an extensive marshland with rich alluvial soil. It was thickly
covered with mangrove and nipa palm trees which served as habitat to many marshland wildlife species.
Early settlers lived in small clusters of houses along the shoreline and river banks of Calmay, Pantal, and
Bonuan. Later migrants moved inland occupying the agricultural lands of Malaued, Lasip, Pogo, and
Bacayao. Pantal and Bonuan became the fishing, salt-making, and "bangus" (milkfish)raising centers and
Malaued, the agricultural settlement area. Travel was mainly by "bancas" (dugout canoes) and sailboats
through the river channels.
In 1590, the house clusters were resettled into compact communities and converted into a town named
initially as Bacnotan and renamed later in 1720 as Dagupan. A site for the town plaza was constructed
along Pantal River surrounded by the town hall in the east public market in the north, and the Catholic
Church in the west (Pangasinan Folio, 1970 In 1780, Pantal, originally named Pantalan (port), became a
trading center and docking station for merchant ships. At about the same time, bangus industry thrived
and more mangrove swamps were converted into fishponds. The development of Dagupan as a
commercial center was firmly established in 1891 when the Manila-Dagupan railway was completed. Up
to the 1900's the site of the present public market was still a swamp with waist deep water. Much of the
present downtown area along A. B. Fernandez Ave. (formerly Torres Bugallon Avenue) was a marsh.
Travel by boat along the Agno River was still the most practical means of transport. In 1908, the
commercial center extended beyond the Quintos Bridge on the other side of Pantal River. The continuous
growth of the city necessitated the construction of Perez Blvd. and Magsaysay Bridge in 1948 to create
more space for commercial activities through the usual practice of reclaiming and construction on
swamplands and less productive fishponds.
Fluvial Sedimentation and Artificial Channel Cut-offs
The active shifting of Pantal River left a belt of abandoned meanders alongside it. The positions of the old
meanders are indicated by the looping configuration of swampy areas and other natural drainages (Fig.
16). These are also prominent and, therefore, easily identifiable in aerial photographs. The age
relationship of an abandoned meander to the active channel could be inferred from its depth, distance
from the present active channel and, where several meanders intertwined, cross-cutting relationships.
Most of the meander scars exhibit well-developed point bar deposits and scroll bar ridges. However,
some point bars are already obliterated by cross-cutting meander loops and are covered by levee
deposits. A peculiar characteristic of very young active meanders, particularly those within the vicinity of
the city proper, is the absence of distinct levees. Based on this, it is very likely that some of these
channels have been artificially made, probably during the development of the city.
Channel abandonment along Pantal River also resulted from construction of artificial cut-offs. Slow
sedimentation of suspended materials and episodic influx of flood-borne sediments eventually filled up the
abandoned channels. These natural reclamation materials are largely uncompacted and water-saturated
sediments and, as such, highly susceptible to amplified ground shaking and liquefaction. At some later
stages of natural reclamation, the abandoned channels are transformed from oxbow lakes into swamps or
marshlands.

Artificial cut-off and reclamation have long been employed along Agno River for two primary reasons: (1)
to shorten travel time around meander loop and (2) to diffuse floodwater especially at constricted portions.
One exceptional case was the famed Limahong Channel, named after the Chinese pirate who established
his colony in Lingayen during the 1600s. According to historical accounts, the combined Filipino and
Spanish forces laid siege on his fortress by blocking the river outlets. Limahong broke through the siege
by sects digging a channel from the Agno River to Lingayen Gulf (Callanta, 1989)
An indication of man-made alteration on the fluvial environment of Dagupan City isle abrupt changes in
the sinuosity of Pantal River. Based on the ratio of channel length and meander wavelength, the sinuosity
of the active and abandoned channels of Pantal Rid, lying south of Dagupan City proper has an average
ratio value of 2.31 and 4.19, respectively. In contrast, the meander character around the city proper was
calculated at 1.40 formula} active channel and 2.14 for the abandoned channels. These sinuosity
measurements distinguish straight and meandering channels at boundary ratio of 1.5. Therefore, the
channel character of Pantal as it approaches the City proper transforms from a meandering channel to a
straight channel. Furthermore, the similarity of the sinuosity of the abandoned channels passing through
the city and the active meanders at the southern continuity of the river suggests that these abandoned
meander were not yet primed for natural cut-off but were artificially severed from the main channel.
The effects of the 16 July 1990 Earthquake
Sand boils were the most extensive effects of liquefaction in Dagupan City. During the earthquake, sand
boils were erupted through cracks at the sides of buildings, ruptured pavements, and covered concrete
roads with dark gray fine sands and muddy waters. Drainage systems were clogged by the accumulated
sand causing temporary flooding of the main thorough fares.
Sand boil distribution in Dagupan City, as delineated from aerial photographs taken three days after the
earthquake and from field investigation, is shown in Fig. 13. Based on standard penetration test data of
the Department of Public Works and Highways, the liquefiable layers are up to about 5m below the
ground surface. In some places, however, these are shallow enough to be directly observed through open
fissures. For example, the deposit found inside the Divine Word Academy adjacent to Nazareth Hospital
along Rizal Extension (Fig 10) appears to have originated from a layer less than a meter below the
ground surface.
Lateral spreading accounted for most of the destruction of swampy areas in Dagupan City. Buildings and
other manmade structures were damaged when river banks slid into Pantal River and dry lands into the
swampy areas during the earthquake.
Lateral spreading along Pantal River appears to be confined to constricted portions of the stream
channel. Magsaysay Bridge is located across one of these constrictions and its collapse was brought
about by lateral spreading on both sides of Pantal River (Plate 1). During active lateral spreading of
opposing banks of Pantal River where Magsaysay Bridge abutted, the local compression generated was
directed towards the bridge, and it swept away the piers at the same time when the riverbed was
liquefying. As a consequence, the bridge , was broken into several segments like an accordion, although
the portion close to the west abutment collapsed horizontally onto the riverbed. The segment abutting
against the bank was thrust westward under the adjacent segment and the middle pier underwent
subsidence and tilting towards the east. A similar compressional phenomenon was observed where a
portion of Galvan St. overlying an open canal was thrust over a resisting abutment.

Ground subsidence is a direct consequence of liquefaction. However, the amount of subsidence in areas
affected by liquefaction can only be determined relatively due to the absence of an undisturbed or fixed
reference point. In general, places where buildings stood subsided relative to the streets, and
understandably so. Subsidence phenomena are notable within the commercial district where some
buildings sank by as much as 2 meters (Fig.14).In general, most of the affected buildings in Dagupan City
subsided by less than a meter.Adjacent concrete pavements dip towards the subsided structures and
ground cracks are disposed perpendicular to the direction of subsidence. The resulting subsidence in
Dagupan City becomes more evident when the affected areas got flooded by rainwater, high tide in
cursion and, jetted-up groundwater. Flooding was aggravated by the disruption and clogging of both the
natural and man-made drainage systems. Some houses remained underwater by 30-50 cms. for several
months. The whole stretch of Don Jose Calimlim St. and swampy areas and fishpond communities, such
as Bgy. Lasip Grande, remained underwater even during low tide conditions.
In a more severe form of liquefaction, differential subsidence is usually associated will the tilting of heavy
structures. Severely tilted buildings are concentrated along Perez Blvd. One is tilted by as much as 19
degrees (Plate II), but generally, the magnitude of tilt is within 2-5 degrees (Fig. 15).
Buried buoyant structures such as gasoline storage tanks (Plate III), septic tanks, and drainage pipes
exerted upward pressure resulting in the upheaval of the ground and breaking of pavements, thus
affecting the operation of some gasoline stations. Liquefaction also caused water supply problems,
especially the availability of potable water many weeks after the earthquake.
Ground undulation is another feature associated with liquefaction. An eyewitness observed that the
ground appeared to roll during the earthquake. He described a jeep parked along the road appeared and
vanished from his line of sight. Evidence of rolling ground seems to have been preserved in the
deformation of some fences and roads (Plate IV).Along the portion of Dagupan-Lingayen road enclosed
by Tapuao-Malued diversion road, cracks developed in a concrete fence coincide with the crests and
troughs of ground undulation wavelength. The cracks which formed at the crests are characteristically
open and tapering downwards - an extensional feature - and the ones that formed at the trough exhibit
shortening feature in the form of tight fractures. Using this observation as basis for determining the
wavelength of ground undulation, the amount of separation between the extensional and the shortening
cracks was measured along a deformed residential fence and a ground undulation wavelength of about
25 meters was obtained. Observable effects of ground undulation did not extend beyond the junction of
the Tapuac-Milued and the Dagupan-Lingayen roads.
Correlation of Fluvial Sedimentation and Distribution of Damage
Liquefaction damage and the distribution of affected areas in Dagupan City appear to have strong
geological controls. The extensive earthquake-induced secondary ground a failure in Dagupan City is
confined mostly to built-up areas on recently abandoned river meanders, banks of active channels, and
relatively young point bars. Structures constructed outside of these young geologic features suffered little
or no damage during the earthquake. Conversely, it is also to be expected that areas with extensive
occurrences of a sand boils and those with heavily tilted and subsided buildings should be where these
geologic features are to be found. The margins of abandoned river channels thus serve to demarcate the
boundaries between areas with totally damaged buildings and those with partially to undamaged ones.
The liquefaction-prone layer would most probably correspond to the deposits in the abandoned channels
and point-bars and would have a thickness of about 5-6 meters, which is approximately equal to the depth
of Pantal River.

Liquefied deposits tend to flow towards open and recently reclaimed river channels. When this happened
in Dagupan City during the earthquake, multi-storey buildings and residential houses on the liquefied
point-bar deposits tilted away from the open and recently reclaimed river channel and in a direction
opposite to that of lateral spreading.
Varying degrees of damage were sustained in the different affected areas of Dagupan City. For instance,
the area around Perez Blvd., which is located in a readily recognized meander scar and well-developed
point-bar, sustained more damages than the area around Tapuac-Malued road, which is an older
meander belt. Similar liquefaction effects in the vicinity of Perez Blvd. can be observed in Pogo Grande,
but these effects are at a subdued level because only residential houses are found here. Pogo Grande is
also situated in a young meander scar of about the same age as that around Perez Blvd. All these
observations clearly indicate that susceptibility to liquefaction and the attending degree of damage to
structures within the different parts of Dagupan City can be related to the relative ages of the geologic
features they occupy and therefore, by the relative ages of deposits underlying them. In general, sandy
deposits in relatively old meander scars are less prone to liquefy than those found in recently abandoned
channels and when they do liquefy, damage to structures built on them would only be of limited extent.
The degree of destruction along A.B. Fernandez Ave., which largely lies on a reclaimed swampland, is
generally less than that in the Perez Blvd. area except near its intersection with Rizal St. where there
occurred pronounced relative subsidence and structural tilt. The heightened effect of liquefaction along a
100m stretch of A.B. Fernandez Ave. can be traced to modification of the channel of Pantal River. Prior to
north eastward expansion of Dagupan City, Pantal River used to meander around the area now partly
occupied by A.B. Fernandez Ave. and Rizal St. before running parallel to Pantal Road (Figs 16). Thus, the
segment of A.B. Fernandez exhibiting severe liquefaction related damages coincides with the crossedover area of the old Pantal River. It is here underlain by young deposits of similar age as those in the
Perez Blvd. area. The rest of A.B. Fernandez Ave. that was built on a reclaimed swampland suffered less
damage through liquefaction because it is basically underlain by relatively older and better compacted
deposits.