200 families near Mt. Kanlaon urged to evacuate

BACOLOD CITY, Philippine s – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has advised about 200 families living at the foot of Mt. Kanlaon in Isabela, Negros Occidental to leave their village permanently as they may be buried in a landslide. 

In a TV interview Wednesday, MGB senior science research specialist Leilanie Suerte said the residents of Barangay Maytubig and nearby villages in Isabela town face risk of being buried in a landslide if heavy rains continue or another earthquake occurs.

Suerte, who led a team of local disaster workers in inspecting the area, said they found a lot of loose boulders, some as big as trucks, on Mt. Kanlaon, an active volcano that spans some towns and cities of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. 

The crater of Mt. Kanlaon sustained huge cracks, estimated to be about 40 feet long, following the 6.9 magnitude quake that struck Negros Island last Feb. 6, said Vicfran Defante, head of the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Management Team.  

Suerte said Barangay Maytubig is situated just behind Barangay Planas in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, where 28 villagers were still missing in a quake-triggered landslide. “They are separated only by a mountain. An active fault line is just behind (Maytubig). If an earthquake happens again, the area will experience strong tremors,” she said. 

In Isabela town, fissures were also found in the villages of Lima-Lima, San Agustin, and Banog-banog, while cracks and landslides were noted, too, in neighboring La Castellana town.