Kalinga folk are living on dangerous ground

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Several ground fissures widening at an average rate of one centimeter per hour were discovered by authorities in a mountain village in Kalinga.

Regional Disaster Coordinating Council chairman Chief Supt. Virtus Gil, director of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera, bared that residents in Sitio Kimata, Lubuagan, Kalinga are sitting on deadly ground.

Gil warned that the situation there was made more dangerous because "along the upstream portion of the fissure was a rice field, where water seeps in."

Gov. Macario Duguiang, chairman of the Kalinga Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, and Engr. Manuel Madio of the Department of Public Works and Highways, conducted an ocular inspection at the fissure site over the weekend and observed that cracks were found below the rice fields.

"There are three horizontal cracks approximately 35 to 50 inches apart while there are two vertical cracks about 350 meters long," Gil said.

Although no damage to property or loss of lives were reported yet, he feared that 35 families would be directly affected by these ground fissures. He assured, however, that six of these affected families have already been evacuated.

Soil samples were taken from the site for testing at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology while residents were advised to vacate the affected area.

Authorities cordoned off the affected area. Signs were set up at the crack site for future investigation, while observation posts were established at three strategic locations around the area to determine the exact route where the topsoil was settling. — Artemio Dumlao