MGB-8 wants relocation of residents in 5 villages of Ormoc

ORMOC CITY—TheMinesand Geosciences Bureau-Region 8 yesterday recommended to the Ormoc City government the permanent relocation to safer areas of residents from five villages direly affected by the July 5 earthquake.

MGB-8 Chief Geologist Valentin Narido, in his letter to Mayor Richard Gomez, identified the barangays as Tongonan, Lake Danao, Milagro, Cabingtan and Nueva Vista.

He said his office is recommending for the total relocation of some sitios in the villages, including Tongonan Proper, which was the epicenter of the 6.5magnitude quake that hit Leyte.

Tongonan is one of the region's richest villages, being the host village to the geothermal plants of Energy Development Corporation.

In the report, the MGB also said that "areas susceptible to landslides, especially those with reported tension cracks, are recommended to relocate to safer sites."

It also recommended that damaged buildings and infrastructures should not be used anymore, and "must have these evaluated by city engineers for proper recommendations," and that "no house and buildings should be built on top of the fault," or within 100 meters of the fault line.

Narido said the MGB-8 report was done by his office in cooperation with the Environment Management Bureau (EMB), Phivolcs and six mining firms: Oceana Gold, Carmen Copper Corporation, Taganito Mining Corp., Platinum Group Mining Corp., Cebrian Geokunsult Inc. and Adnama Mining Resources Inc.

He added that 67 volunteer workers composed the teams that were dispatched to the quake-hit areas of Ormoc City and nearby Kananga town.

The next activity that MGB-8 will be doing in Or mo cw ill be on Wednesday when—together with representatives from the city disaster risk reduction office and the National Housing Authority— it will visit the red-flagged areas and put up markers indicating the fault lines and the extent of "no build zones." The teams will also assess proposed relocation sites to determine also the safety of these areas.

Gomez, during the meeting, urged the MGB to move fast in putting up the markers so that the residents will be aware of the dangers of returning to their houses. He also would like to know if the relocation areas being eyed by the city government are safe.

MGB-8, in its report, earlier tagged the planned evacuation sites at Tongonan Proper and sitio Welcome as susceptible to landslides, while the one at sitio Cambantog in Lake Danao was also deemed "susceptible to earthquake-induced landslides."

Only one evacuation site, the one in Milagro Elementary School, was deemed "safe from landslides," the MGB-8 report added. There are currently 2,272 households living in 13 evacuation areas in Ormoc City. —