Catbalogan under state of calamity landslide death count hits 19; 3 still missing

CATBALOGAN CITY, Philippines — Rains continued to pour yesterday and covered this city with a pall of gloom, as search and recovery workers kept on looking for the three persons still missing from the mounds of earth that buried to death 19 people from a series of landslides in Barangay Mercedes last December 30.

The search effort was stopped momentarily on New Year’s Day, not only due to the celebration but also because the backhoe bogged down. When the equipment was fixed at 9 a.m. yesterday, stench of deaths began to waft around the landslide site, prompting the workers to dig up again for the three still missing persons.

The 19 confirmed landslide casualties, eight of them minors, were: Rico Carcillar,17; Rafael Tafalla, 17; Kyle Jiggs del Rosario, 15; Alysa Lozada 12; Jassel Giray, 9; Joyce Uy, 7; Jhenefah Comedia, 3; Chito Libao, 10; Fideliza Cablao, 62; Gregorio Carcillar 56; Cresencia Lozada, 75; Felicisimo Lozada, 77; Ruel Pantaleon, 34; Roberto Mabansag, 55; Rodolfo Guevarra, 70; Prudencia Guevarra, 68; Jay-R Mabag, 19; Michael Mabag, 25; and Jeffrey Mabag, 23.

The names of the three missing were not released yet, and city authorities said eight other injured victims were still confined in the hospital, while 11 more were released as out-patients.

One of the two passenger vans, buried by the landslide as they passed by the area, was already dug up but the other one was still being retrieved. Reports had it that the passengers were able to get out of the vehicle before it was covered by the huge chunk of earth. It was also yet unclear if there were other passengers in the still buried van, except that its driver was still unaccounted for.

The city government has just declared the city under a state of calamity, a day after the landslides, and had evacuated at least 115 families from Mercedes itself and other barangays. The total number of affected households was 16,975 in 28 barangays, and that 22 houses were totally destroyed and 135 partially damaged.

Mayor  Stephanie Uy  Tan released food packs and assistance to the families of the victims, both at the hospital and the funeral parlors and church, and the people at evacuation centers to at least cheer them up for the New Year’s Day celebration.

The mayor said national authorities did not send any advance warning on the possible onslaught of storm Seniang, otherwise the local government could have implemented preemptive measures to avoid so many deaths, like what it did when the stronger typhoon Ruby hit Eastern Samar on December 6.

When Seniang hit the province on December 29, the city government, however, on its own issued warnings to residents along the landslide-prone areas, but the preparations were not as intense as in the time of Ruby considering that Pag-asa only tagged the storm as weaker than previous ones.

For two days, since December 28, there were no strong winds, but only continuous downpour. The LGU monitoring expected about 22 millimeters of water level.

However, by Monday, the water suddenly rose to 200-mm, triggering the landslides that took place three times in the same area, hours apart from each other, the second of which was the most fatal, hitting the houses along the bay area across the road.

The mayor told The Freeman that the city government will be holding a meeting with the families in Mercedes for their possible relocation to a site, a few kilometers from the Poblacion, earlier prepared by the National Housing Authority, for at least 600 families displaced before by typhoons Glenda and Ruby. (FREEMAN)