IN LANDSLIDE AREAS
[PHOTO -
RECOVERY EFFORT: Rescue volunteers dig through the mud in hopes of
finding more bodies in a landslide which hit a small-scale gold mining site in
Barangay Napnapan, Pantukan, Compostela Valley Province on Thursday at dawn,
January 5, 2012. (Photo by RUBY THURSDAY MORE)]
MANILA, JANUARY 9, 2012 (BULLETIN )
Mining tunnels will be shut down and all houses demolished in the
landslide-ravaged areas of Pantukan town in Compostela Valley.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo made the announcement
Friday as rescuers continued their search for eight people still missing and
believed trapped under tons on rock and mud.
Robredo said 500 small mines will be shut down and the miners and their
families will be relocated by the government.
The remaining shanties in the stricken areas will be torn down and the
government will force the remaining miners to mill their ores at three
centralized areas that will be built near the town proper within three months.
Friday afternoon, the death toll from the landslide that hit a remote gold
mining community in Pantukan stood at 25, with 22 bodies already retrieved and
16 identified.
Earlier reports said around 150 people were still missing but officials said
only eight more victims had yet to be found.
A report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
(NDRRMC) identified the missing as Ruperto Velasquez, Ramil Senoron, Roger
Diagdal, a certain "Michael", Jennievie Paumbat, Manao Yogon, and Kiko Senoron.
Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesman Col. Leopoldo Galon said the
military will help the local government in enforcing the "no habitation
ordinance" in the area to prevent similar incidents in the future.
In Malacañang, Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said President
sBenigno S. Aquino III ordered Robredo to investigate the incident.
A group of volunteers prepared to go the gold rush site to help about 140
soldiers and police there, who resumed the search at first light as the rains
ceased, local military spokesman Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza said."We're not losing
hope in our search for survivors. We will not shift to (corpse) retrieval mode
until 72 hours had passed," he told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency
in a telephone interview from Pantukan.
Rescuers are pushing tubes into the mouths of mine shafts that tunnel into
the mountainside in the hope that some trapped miners could still be alive in
them, but so far there had been no signs of life, he conceded.
Pantukan and nearby Monkayo, both on the west flank of Mindanao's Pacific
Cordilleras mountains, have drawn gold prospectors for years despite frequent,
deadly landslides.
Malacanang had issued a stern warning to local government units (LGUs) to
enforce safety measures using geo-hazard maps following the landslide in the
Compostela Valley, saying that local government officials should ensure the
safety of their constituents.
He said those already given hazard maps should make sure that danger areas
are no longer inhabited.
The landslide incident was said to have been caused by small-scale mining.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) suspended the
Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECCs) of small-scale mining companies in
the area last April but mining operations still persisted.
The landslide in Compostela Valley devastated Purok Diat Uno and Diat Dos in
Barangay Napnapan. A landslide also hit Compostela Valley's Barangay Kingking
last April last year due to incessant rains.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deployed ground troops and medical teams
Friday to assist in the search, rescue and retrieval operations in the
landslide-hit areas.
Lt. Cmdr. Algier Ricafrente, Coast Guard Public Affairs chief, said Admiral
Ramon Liwag ordered the immediate dispatch of various teams from the Coast Guard
Special Operations Group (CGSOG), medical teams and Deployable Response Group
(DRG) based in Davao City to help in the ongoing retrieval operations.
The teams are expected to arrive in the area early this morning.
Meanwhile, Kabataan partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino said the government
allotted P21.7 billion for disasters this year but still does not have a
comprehensive calamity-mitigation plan.
Palatino said this is unfortunate since the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) completed its geohazard mapping of the entire country
in 2009 and determined which areas are subject to risks.
Moreover, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA)
under Dr. Peter Tiangco had already made these maps available to the national
government, local government units (LGUs) and even the private sector.
On Thursday, the Iuvenis Orbis Geological Fraternity of the University of the
Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS) in Diliman led
by Joel S. Diaz sponsored a forum on these risks and bared possible responses
and concrete plans to counter calamities.
Dr. Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(Phivolcs) also revealed various scenarios in case huge earthquakes hit the West
Valley Fault and the Manila Trench that runs beneath Manila Bay.
Solidum's paper said 18 simulations were made and showed that a Magnitude 7.2
quake hitting the West Valley Fault would cause severe damage on the immediate
environs of the fault, including Ayala-Alabang, while a Magnitude 7.9 quake at
the Manila Trench would trigger a tsunami that would hit land in an hour and
rattle the eastern half of the National Capital Region (NCR).
Liquefaction would occur in areas along the West Valley Fault, including
areas in Quezon City, Marikina, Pasig, Alabang and in Manila, Pasay, Paranaque
and Las Pinas.
A severe tremor would trigger fires in many areas, said the Solidum study.
The paper, Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study, showed heavy
damage to 168,300 residential buildings or 12.7 percent of the total, and partly
damage 339,800 or 25.6 percent if a 7.2 earthquake hits the West Valley Fault.
Between 8 percent and 10 percent of public buildings will be damaged heavily
and 20 percent to 25 percent will be hit partially.
Eleven percent of buildings from 10 stories to 30 stories would be damaged
heavily while 27 percent would be damaged partially. Buildings from 30 stories
to 60 stories would sustain heavy damage while 12 percent would be damaged
partially.
Metro Manila has 1,325,896 buildings.
Based on a population of 9,932,560, the study projected fatalities at 33,500
(0.3 percent) and the injured at 113,600 or 1.1 percent of the population. (With reports from AFP, Madel R. Sabater, John Carlo M.
Cahinhinan, Marvyn N. Benaning and Mario B. Casayuran)
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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