Failed rocket launch shows Friday the 13th is no unlucky day for Aurora

BALER, Aurora, April 15, 2012–Friday the 13^th may be a perennial jinx to most people but to Aurorans, including its leaders, it’s no unlucky at least insofar as the failed rocket launch of North Korea is concerned.

Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo stressed this yesterday as she and the rest of Aurorans heaved a collective sigh of relief that North Korea’s heralded long-range rocket test ended in failure Friday, disintegrating in mid-air soon after blastoff and plunging into the sea.

“To many, Friday the 13^th may be a bad sign. But fortunately, this is not the case with Aurora,” she said. She said the failed rocket launch was clearly an act of God and that Divine Providence spared the calamity-prone province from yet another tragedy of epic proportions.

Angara-Castillo said divine intervention played a part in the failed rocket launch because human errors could have caused it to stray somewhere and hit the province.

“You never know what to expect. When human error comes into play, it could cause irreparable damage even to our province. Thank God it failed,” she said.

But she cautioned against nations relaxing their guard, saying North Korea might make up for a loss of face by staging another rocket test in the future.     

At least five of this province’s towns were earlier identified by disaster officials as possible danger zones due to the satellite launch.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Benito Ramos said among the areas threatened were  the northern Aurora towns of Casiguran, Dilasag and Dinalungan, Dingalan in southern Aurora and this capital town.

This province is no stranger to calamities. Aside from the destructive typhoons which sowed destruction in the province in 2004, a tsunami also wiped out the oldtownship of Baler, wiping out 500 families. Only five families, including the Angaras, survived.

 Angara-Castillo expressed grave concern over the lack of safety measures by the national government in dealing with the threat of the missile launch. She said that while the missile launch is alarming, also equally alarming is the lack of safety guidelines drawn up by the NDRRMC.

Angara-Castillo convened the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council and the provincial government and implemented the “no-sail zone” and “no-fishing zone” over areas covered by the declaration in the province.