THE Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC) passed a resolution Thursday afternoon (January 19) recommending the restriction of visitors' entry to the famous flower farms in Barangay Sirao, Cebu City.
The decision was made after members of the city's Quick Response Team "discovered tension cracks measuring about a foot with the direction downwards and an opening of about four inches wide located about 30 meters above the flower farms," said CCDRRMC head Nagiel Bañacia in a Facebook post.
"The council unanimously agreed to prevent the entry of visitors for safety reasons pending the assessment report from the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources," Bañacia added.
He said it has been noticed by personnel of the disaster management office that visitors to the flower farms continue to arrive every day despite reports of massive landslide directly above the area.
"Massive landslide have attracted a lot of curious individuals too who wanted to see the new formations of earth," he said.
"It started to become a disaster tourism. We want to restrict the entry of the people because the earth is still continuing to move downwards. We take no chances," he added.
The resolution also recommended the following:
* Installation of warning signs implementing the resolution - "No Entry, Restricted Area for tourists. No Entry Landslide Area."
* To inform the police assigned at Sirao detachment to help implement the resolution
* To furnish copies of the resolution to the concerned flower farm owners.
The flower farms are located in Sitio Tawagan, Barangay Sirao, a mountain village in Cebu City. (SunStar Philippines)