BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A total of 21 families, composed of 109 individuals, sought safer ground after cracks were noticed to have been expanding at the ground in Lower Sitio Manao, Brgy. Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.
Municipal Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Officer Reynal Horegue yesterday said the affected families are now being temporarily housed at the municipal evacuation center, where the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office is taking care of them, as per instructions of Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo.
The farmers are being however allowed in daytime to check their farms and animals, Horegue said.
Initial inspection showed that some areas in Lower Manaol dropped by half a meter, which MDRRMO suspects is caused by soil erosion and liquefaction, which is up for validation by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
In 2009, similar natural phenomenon occurred in Upper Sitio Manaol of the insurgency-affected barangay, where large cracks in the ground appeared, creating landslides.
Horegue said that areas of Upper Manaol have long been abandoned by residents due to unstable grounds.
Mayor Garcia-Yulo has already asked MGB the to send a team of geologists to the affected areas for guidance on how to ensure the safety of residents.
Yulo said they want to know if the area should be declared a no man’s zone.*
