Fear of being buried alive grips barangay residents

Saturday, February 11, 2012

THE fear of being buried alive continues to plague residents of a mountain barangay in Ronda, Cebu.

Barangay Vive has been living in fear since last Monday’s earthquake that left cracks on its mountainsides.

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Rains and aftershocks are feared to cause landslides anytime, geologists said.

Huge boulders and trees fell down, narrowly missing houses at the foot of mountains.

Newly-constructed classrooms cracked and the soil loosened.

The barangay, which was considered non-habitable since 1996 for being located in a hazardous area, is occupied by 1,000 individuals.

Damage in the town is placed at P2 million, said Ronda Mayor Mariano Blanco. Also damaged were 20 fishing boats, a wharf, a multi-purpose building and roads.

In Barangay Vive, five houses were destroyed, leaving families homeless. They had been evacuated.

“Hikapon lang nimo ug gamay kay kuyaw na kayo matumpag (A slight touch and these houses will fall),” said Vive Barangay Captain Caruto Sabio of the houses.

Because he can’t force the residents to abandon their homes and livelihood, Sabio said he let them go to their relatives in neighboring barangays or to an evacuation center at night and allow them to go back during daytime.

Sabio said the cracks in the mountains were already there but widened after the earthquake.

A resident said they received little help from the government.

“Maghuwat na lang di ay ‘ta kung naa’y mahitabo (Do we have to wait until something happens)?” she said. She visited the town yesterday to force her sister to evacuate.

“Dili ‘ta katagna. Dili baya na mananghid ang landslide (Landslides don’t give warnings),” she said. She now lives in Cebu City.

“Mura og ang mga tawo kay naanad na lang nga naa’y cracks. Dili na bag-o para nila (The people are accustomed to the cracks),” she said.

Classes in Langin National High School, meanwhile, will resume tomorrow, and 400 students are expected to come back.

Evelyn Bucog, a fourth year high school adviser, said their school only suffered minor cracks.

Ten of its classrooms can still be used while two had been condemned after a disaster many years ago.

No student or teacher was injured in last Monday’s earthquake. Bucog said earthquake drills prepared them for it.

A team from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 conducted a geological survey yesterday afternoon to assess the extent of the damage in the area. The crack in the mountains was estimated at three kilometers long.

Senior geologists Josepine Aleta and Maria Elena Lupo used a global positioning system (GPS) to trace the crack.

They started monitoring the barangay, which is located about 20 kilometers from the town proper, after it was declared as a danger zone years ago.

An eight-man team led by Insp. Verniño Noberale of the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 7 assisted the geologists.

Ronda Police Station Deputy Chief SPO3 Bertoldo Mansueto also directed policemen to stop residents from going near the crack.