Wednesday, July 19, 2006
29 Lake Sebu families flee to safer grounds
AT LEAST 29 families based at a landslide-prone area in the mountains of Lake Sebu in South Cotabato were relocated to safer grounds due to the continuing rains.
The local government of Lake Sebu and the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) ordered affected residents of Sitio Mini in Barangay Hanoon to vacate their area due to the possible occurrence of flashfloods and landslides.
Haide Lacdo-o, a member of the PDCC secretariat, said the area was earlier declared by the PDCC and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Mines and Geosciences Bureau as a danger zone due to presence of soft spots on a nearby mountain.
In October last year, the area was hit by a major landslide and flooding that destroyed at least 15 houses located near the Mini Creek.
South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes, who chairs the PDCC, approved the relocation following a recommendation from an inspection team composed of members of the PDCC and the mines bureau.
Cesar Gan, supervising geologist of the mines bureau in Soccsksargen region, said the relocation site is situated in a plateau close to a spring water source and the farms of the beneficiaries.
Lacdo-o said the affected residents were permanently relocated to a nearby one-hectare lot purchased by the Municipal Government of Lake Sebu from a local resident.
Lacdo-o said the lot, worth P50,000, was purchased out of the P2,000 aid allocated for each of the 29 families by the Provincial Government.
The PDCC allocated another P2,000 assistance for the affected residents and provided some food assistance under the food-for-work scheme, she added. (Allen V. Estabillo)
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(July 17, 2006 issue)
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