A TOTAL of 23 households in Sitio Sandayong, Barangay Balirong in the City of Naga, Cebu were advised to evacuate to a safer place after several cracks were found in the area.
City Administrator Arthur Villamor, officer-in-charge of the City’s Environmental Office, said the discovery was made during their inspection on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. He said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 has yet to check the cracks.
“We do not know yet if these cracks are new or not. We could also not determine their extent. That’s the job of the geologists,” he said in Cebuano.
He said they need to know if these particular cracks are hazardous since cracks are common in the city, which is surrounded by mountains.
In a worst-case scenario, the 23 households will be directly affected, which is why the City has given the families a formal notice to temporarily move to a safer area pending the MGB 7 evaluation.
He said they have already coordinated with the barangay to prepare its covered court for their relocation.
He said the City currently doesn’t have an available evacuation center and only uses existing classrooms and covered courts.
He said they will meet with the affected residents on Monday, Oct. 26.
For families who refuse to leave, he advised them to be watchful and to be observant of their surroundings at all times.
The MGB 7 will also check the site on Monday, he said.
City residents have developed a “phobia” whenever land cracks are discovered following the landslide that struck Barangay Tinaan on Sept. 20, 2018, which killed 78 persons and left 6,486 individuals injured or homeless.
He said this is not the first crack sighting incident that was reported to his office since that fatal day.
He said there are studies and proposals to address the problem with engineering mitigation measures but it will depend on the cost and the City’s available funds.
“It will all depend on the cost and on the availability of funds. Maybe we can seek financial assistance from other agencies,” Villamor said in Cebuano. (WBS)