602 Leyte b’gays prone to landslides, floods — MGB

TACLOBAN CITY — Of Leyte’s 1,366 barangays, 602 were found not only prone to landslides but also to flooding.

A 26-man team composed of geologists from the central office and different regional field offices of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) found this out in a recent geo-hazard assessment of Leyte and Biliran provinces.

President Arroyo ordered the rapid field assessment after a massive mudslide buried Guinsaugon village of Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte last Feb. 17, killing more than a thousand people.

In their report, James Liones, chief of the MGB’s regional geology division, said that of Leyte’s 1,366 barangays, 117 are highly prone to landslides, 240 are moderately prone, and 245 have low landslide susceptibility. The rest are safe from landslides.

The MGB’s rapid field assessment focused on barangays located at the foot of mountains and on mid-slopes and mountain ridges. Each barangay was rated according to its landslide susceptibility — high, moderate or low.

According to the report, at least 10 Leyte towns were found to be highly prone to landslides and flooding.

Found highly susceptible to landslides were 11 barangays in Villaba town, 10 in Abuyog town, eight each in Burauen, Matag-ob and Baybay towns, seven in Calubian town, and five each in Ormoc City and Inopacan, Tabango and Palompon towns.

In Biliran, meanwhile, 99 of 132 barangays were subjected to the geo-hazard assessment, and MGB geologists found 18 to have a high landslide susceptibility, 45 moderate, and 34 low.

Five villages each in the towns of Kawayan and Caibiran were found to be highly landslide-prone, as well as four in Culaba and three in Almeria town.

The same team of MGB geologists has also completed its rapid field assessment of the entire province of Southern Leyte, where 468 villages were found to be highly prone to both landslides and flooding.