Landslides hit 2 city barangays

CEBU, Philippines - Two landslide incidents in upland Cebu City barangays that blocked the main roads have been reported to the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office yesterday.

A landslide happened in Sitio Binaliw 3, Barangay Binaliw last Sunday and Sitio MACV in Barangay Agsungot  lastTuesday, according to Binaliw barangay captain Wilson Bacor.

The two landslides prompted barangay officials to immediately divert the traffic because the main road was impassable.

“There are two access routes in going to our area. One is via Barangay Mabini and the other is via Guba. Since the Guba road was blocked, motorists were advised to take the shorter route,” Bacor said.

Since it needs major clearing operation, Bacor sought the assistance of the city government.

According to City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office operations officer Alvin Santillana, they received the call for help from Bacor at 7 a.m. yesterday.

“We went to the site this morning (Wednesday) to check the area. To help clear the soil from the road, we sent one backhoe loader and a pay loader from engineering department,” Santillana said.

He added that he instructed the heavy equipment operator to be extra careful as they noticed one foot tension crack near the MACV site.

As of 10 a.m. yesterday, Binaliw road was already passable to two way traffic, Bacor said.

About eight houses were located near the Sitio MACV site while one household was evacuated in Sitio Binaliw.

A recent and detailed geohazard assessment of Mines and Geosciences Bureau found the two sitios in both barangays to be highly susceptible to landslide.

Meanwhile, the 10 families affected by the landslide in Sitio Lub-ang, Barangay Casuntingan, Mandaue City could not be relocated to the 6.5-hectare relocation site in Barangay Paknaan.

Tonypeth Juanico, head of the City Housing and Urban Development Office, explained that the Paknaan relocation site has already its identified beneficiaries. Juanico said the city is still looking at the possibility of acquiring a private property to serve as permanent relocation site of the affected families.

He said the idea of relocating them to a socialized housing site in Barangay Canduman has been brought up but he admitted that this may be difficult. A councilman of Casuntingan also offered to negotiate for the acquisition of a private lot in Casuntingan.

Juanico said they still have to check whether the place is safe for relocation.

The affected families are temporarily sheltered in tents at a basketball court in the barangay.— (FREEMAN)