Sirao residents asked to evacuate; landslides expected to worsen

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau ( MGB) 7 has advised residents of Barangay Sirao in Cebu City to vacate their homes for good and move to safer grounds.

Geologists warned that the creeping downward movement of the soil in the area will only get worse with the recent earthquake and the onset of the rainy season.

Based on their initial survey, the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office recorded at least 40 families in Sitio Langob alone who were affected by landslides.

Nagiel Bañacia, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office chief, said that the number is expected to increase as they have yet to reevaluate the number of residents in the village.

“The recommendation is to make the area a no man’s land. They said that we can’t really do anything about it other than to mitigate,” he said in an interview yesterday.

These mitigating measures include providing an evacuation area for the families that will be displaced, and to open an alternative way from Sitio Langob to Barangay Pulangbato since the existing roads have been destroyed.

MGB has also advised City Hall to stop its clearing operations in Sirao as this will only trigger more landslides.

Standby fund

Bañacia said that the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor suggested that the families be evacuated to Barangay Guba, which is 3.5 kilometers away from Sirao.

The proposal, however, is still being reviewed by the City Council and the executive department.

Bañacia said the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council will set aside a standby fund amounting to P3 million that will be submitted to the council for approval.

“We’re planning to include the amount for Sirao alone in our annual budget (next year). The problem is brought by an underground river that descended to the interior of the mountain that’s why the ground movement will not stop,” he said. /