Facilitating search and recovery

An excavator from Philex mining corp's Padcal mine camp in Tuba.Benguet reaches the landslide area in ucab,Itogon,opening an access road from athe provincial highway

CENTRAL VISAYAS: NAGA CITY, CEBU

AT LEAST 1,146 families composed of 3,899 individuals from five barangays near the landslide site in Naga City, Cebu have been ordered to evacuate their homes. The residents come from

Barangays Tinaan,

Mainit, Naalad,

Pangdan, and

Cabungahan, which are within the one kilometer radius from the landslides. Some families have reportedly asked to stay but authorities said forced evacuation will be implemented to keep people away from danger. “We are doing all efforts to bring everybody to safety. Though this causes inconvenience (to evacuees), we consider this as necessary to save lives,” said Naga Councilor Carmelino N. Cruz, Jr., head of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and manager of the emergency operation center. Barangay and city officials, along with the police and the military, have gone house-to-house to bring residents out of the danger zone. The evacuees are currently housed at the Enan Chiong Activity Center, Naga Central Elementary School, Naga National High School, APO gymnasium, Colon Elementary School, and Tuyan Elementary and National School. The city government has already identified a relocation site in Barangay Tinaan and has started to plan for the housing project.

Authorities on board a helicopter survey the damage in Barangay Tinaan, Naga City, where massive landslides killed at least 35 people and wounded 15 others. At least 44 are still missing.