Philippines: At least 29 dead in Cebu landslide

Quarrying operations suspended in parts of Philippines after a new landslide kills dozens in
Mangkhut's wake.
22 Sept 2018

Police said more than 1,200 people had been evacuated, most of them forcibly, from the area
The Philippines has suspended all mining operations in seven regions of the country after a
new landslide killed at least 29 people near a limestone quarry on Cebu island.

Rescue operations resumed on Friday after a hillside collapsed and surged down on about 24
houses in two rural villages in Naga city on Thursday.

DPA news agency quoted an official from the provincial disaster risk reduction office as
saying as many as 67 people were still believed buried by the debris.

Police said more than 1,200 people had been evacuated, most of them forcibly, from the area
on Thursday night, according to The Associated Press.

Relatives of those buried pleaded for more backhoes to be brought in as many rescue workers
were using shovels to dig.

"They are still under the rubble, they are still there. They are covered in shallow earth, we
need a backhoe," resident Nimrod Parba, who had 13 relatives entombed by the landslide,
was quoted as saying.

Many workers were using shovels to dig on the second day of the rescue operation [Bullit
Marquez/The Associated Press]

A spokesman for the Naga city government said many of the rescuers were digging manually
because it is dangerous to use heavy equipment.

Worst storm of the year

The landslide happened just days after Typhoon Mangkhut wreaked havoc in the Philippines,
leaving at least 95 people dead nationwide.

Many of the deaths occurred in Itogon, in northern Benguet province, where the world's
strongest storm of the year set off a major landslide that hit a bunkhouse where people were
taking shelter from the typhoon.

While Mangkhut, locally called Ompong, did not directly hit the central Philippines island, it
intensified monsoon rains that could have played a role in destabilising the mountainside in
Naga city.
Philippines Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Friday announced the 15-day suspension
of quarrying operations in parts of the country pending safety assessments.

"It could also happen in other quarries all over the country," Cimatu told a media briefing in
Naga city.

"I ordered the review and assessment of all quarry operations all over the country to
determine the safety of the quarry operations."

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he wanted to put an end to all mining activity in
the country.

"If I were to do my thing, I will close all mining in the Philippines," he said.

The Philippines is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.

It is lashed by about 20 tropical storms each year and has active seismic faults where
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Poverty forces many people to live in vulnerable
areas, making natural disasters more deadly.
 Philippines landslide death toll rises to 85 as
rescue workers search for 20 missing people
Operations hampered due to 'lack of equipment, bad weather and blackout'

 Anu Shukla @@AnuShuklaWrites

 Wednesday 2 January 2019 13:12

People wade through a flooded street in the town of Baao in Camarines Sur province on December 30, 2018 (
Simvale Sayat/AFP/Getty Images )

The death toll across the Philippines is rising following the impact of Storm Usman,
triggering landslides and floods which left 85 people dead and 20 still missing.

New Year's celebrations were disrupted on Monday night when landslides struck after days
of heavy rain in several provinces in the centre of the country.

The devastation came less than two weeks after the Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda
Strait erupted and partially collapsed into the sea, causing a tsunami which killed 437 people
on the Java and Sumatra islands.

Children, some aged as young as three, were among the dead following the landslide,
national disaster agency spokesman Edgar Posada said.

Ricardo Jalad, also from the agency, said it was likely people were killed when their homes
collapsed in landslides caused by torrential rain.

Dozens killed as heavy rains and landslides hit Philippines


Philippines landslide victims 'texted for help while buried'

Super typhoon with winds up to 201 mph set to crash into Philippines

"If we don't recover the missing or we recover them dead, that is 105 deaths,
which we hope not," he said.

Late on Monday, tons of mud rolled from the surrounding hills and buried 30
houses in the village of Sirnaresmi in West Java's Sukabumi district, where
nine people were killed and sixty displaced villagers fled to a temporary shelter,
agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

An intense operation involving around 500 rescue workers retrieved eight bodies from
mounds of mud and pulled out four injured people, including an infant who later died in
hospital.

The tropical depression, which weakened into a low pressure system before leaving the
Philippines on Sunday, brought heavy rain, triggering the landslides and flooding in
the Bicol and eastern Visayas regions.

Bicol, an area producing rice and corn located southeast of the capital Manila, was worst
affected with 57 people dead as well as widespread damage to crops and farmland.

Thousands of passengers were also stranded at seaports, airports and bus terminals as dozens
of inter-island trips were cancelled.

Officials put three provinces under a "state of calamity" to give them access to emergency
funds.

Rescuers, including the police and military, used heavy-lifting equipment to clear roads
leading to landslide sites and entered flooded communities using rubber boats.

But agency personnel said rescue operations were hampered due to a "lack of equipment, bad
weather and blackout".

Ronna Monzon, a member of the operations team at the disaster agency in Bicol, said: "The
sun is already out, with occasional light rains. We hope floods will subside."

Elsewhere in the region, seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused dozens of
landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia – a chain of 17,000 islands
where millions live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains near rivers.
 Philippines Struck by Another Deadly Landslide,
Days After Typhoon
Rescuers pulled a survivor from rubble on Thursday in Naga, a city in the central Philippines,
where a landslide killed at least 12 people.CreditCreditReuters
By Felipe Villamor
 Sept. 20, 2018

MANILA — A landslide struck a village in the central Philippines on Thursday, burying up

to 25 homes and killing at least 12 people. Officials said heavy rains in the days
since Typhoon Mangkhut hit the country had contributed to the disaster.

People living at the village in Naga, a small city in Cebu Province, had evacuated before the
powerful typhoon arrived on Saturday. But they returned home after the storm largely spared
Cebu and other central islands, Superintendent Samuel Tadeo of the Philippine Bureau of
Fire Protection said.

Heavy rains over the past two days apparently saturated the soil of a slope above the cluster
of houses, causing it to give way, Mr. Tadeo told a Manila radio station, DZBB. “It has been
raining heavily here,” he said. “More than 20 to 25 houses have been buried.”

Rescue teams were trying to reach potential victims, but the work was “very dangerous,” Mr.
Tadeo said. “We have requested heavy equipment like a backhoe, so we can penetrate
further,” he said.

By early evening, eight survivors had been rescued, but dozens of people were believed to be
missing, said Garry Cabotaje, a local official.

A regional newspaper, SunStar Cebu, posted images on Twitter of rescuers pulling a man
from rubble and recovered bodies wrapped in cloth, laid on church pews.

Image
A survivor was carried to safety in Naga. Many people living at the site of the landslide had
evacuated before Typhoon Mangkhut arrived, but returned home afterward.CreditAlan
Tangcawan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Naga’s police chief, Roderick Gonzales, said local officials had warned everyone to prepare
for Typhoon Mangkhut but that “their lives went back to normal” after the storm passed.

“They did not expect the landslide to happen,” he said of the residents. Evacuation orders
were issued Thursday for dozens of other villages near the site of the landslide.

Mr. Cabotaje said the disaster occurred on land owned by a quarrying company, and that
some of its employees were among the dead. Attempts to contact the company, Apo Land
and Quarry, were unsuccessful, but news reports quoted a spokesman as saying that
quarrying operations at the site had not yet begun.

Recovery efforts also continued Thursday at the site of another deadly landslide, in the town
of Itogon on Luzon Island, where up to 60 people who had sought shelter from Typhoon
Mangkhut are thought to have been buried in a church and in a bunkhouse for miners.

As of late Wednesday, the typhoon was known to have killed 66 people in the Cordillera
region of Luzon, which includes Itogon, and 15 people elsewhere, including Manila, the
capital, according to the Philippine National Police. The toll was certain to rise.

In the days since the Itogon disaster, President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has said it was
considering tougher regulations on mining, which is believed to contribute to landslides by
destabilizing slopes in mountainous areas.

Mr. Duterte said on Tuesday that mining companies were “operating in this country
uncontrolled” and ordered officials to “take a second look” at mining concessions across the
mineral-rich Philippines.

Bodies were laid out at a chapel in Naga on Thursday.CreditAlan Tangcawan/Agence

France-Presse
Declare landslide-hit Albay roads as no-build
zones– expert
Temporarily declaring the roads as no-build zones would keep residents from rebuilding their
homes near the area, and pave the way for interventions to stabilize and protect the mountain
slope

Mavic Conde
Published 1:53 PM, January 04, 2019

LANDSLIDE. A portion of a road in Albay hit by a landslide. courtesy of Rome Candaza.

ALBAY, Philippines – A retired engineer and resident of one of the towns hit hard by
Tropical Depression Usman called on local officials to temporarily declare roads hit by
landslides as no-build zones.

“Until the mountain sides have been stabilized, slopes and roads carriageway have been
protected, bridges have been rebuilt and water lines have been restored, the road sections of
Barangay Sogod in Tiwi town to Barangay Patitinan in Sagñay, Camarines Sur, must be
declared a no-build zone,” said former engineer Abdon Balde Jr.

Balde said this will prevent residents from rebuilding their homes in the same areas, and also
prevent further disturbances of the mountainside in relation to the road widening program of
Department of Philippine Works and Highway (DPWH) to make the road compatible with
the Asian Highway Network (AH26).

“When the two-lane roads were widened to 4 lanes, the mountainside was disturbed, some
even mined for gravel base course to be used as foundation for the additional two lanes. What
was lacking was the stabilization program for the newly exposed mountainside,” he said.

“The no-build zone may be lifted after the mountain slope protection and stabilization have
been completed,” he added.

Balde has experience in managing major projects, including the construction of an

international airport in Nepal, the rehabilitation of the Mactan International Airport runway
and te construction of 100 kilometers of roads and 18 bridges from General Santos to
Malisbog in Mindanao, among others.

“Other countries apply soil nailing where bores are drilled into the sides and with high-
pressure injection, fast-curing and high-strength concrete pushed into the subsurface until the
buried rocks are interconnected by concrete,” he said.

"Unfortunately, the DPWH may still not have the technology,” Balde added.
Tiwi Mayor Jaime Villanueva agreed that the no-build zone is a must for affected areas, but
noted a primary consideration in assessing the proposal. “I agree, although we have to factor
in that it is the only National Road to Patitinan in Camarines, Sur,” he said.

Road widening, man-made factors

Retired geologist Chris Newhall, who is very familiar with the nature of the affected location,
believed that road-widening contributed to some of the landslides that happened near the
project.

“Those that occurred right along highways, especially where there were deep road cuts, had
the added factor of road construction,” he said.

Newhall added, however, that “landslides that occurred far away from roads cannot be
blamed on road widening."

For him, there’s no single culprit in landslides so one should not oversimplify.

“If you look at pictures of the recent slides in Tiwi and Sagñay, and think about their timing,
clearly the two biggest factors – both natural– are heavy rainfall and naturally steep slopes,”
he said.

He explained further that there can be 6 factors in landslides of this type:

1. Steep slopes. In the case of Tiwi-Sagñay, volcanic mountains are being undercut (over
a period of a century or longer) at the base by wave erosion along the coast, and by
stream erosion that makes the deep valleys and slopes facing inward toward the
streams.
2. Any human activity that make slopes steeper, such as road widening. There are some
engineering measures that can help stabilize slopes, but aren’t always effective and
add cost.
3. The nature of rock and soil cover. At least some of the rocks in Tiwi-Sagñay area
were formed from lava that got fractured as the old lava flows came to a halt. The nice
"flat stones" of the area – popular for landscaping – were formed in this way.
4. Heavy rainfall. It soaks the ground and adds weight to the mass of soil and rock, and
also lubricates any potential slip planes.
5. Any other activity that decreases the strength of the soil and rock such as
deforestation.
6. Strong earthquake. There was no earthquake in this recent case – just rain.

Recommendation

Newhall recommended that every province should have a geologist since not every small
town can afford to have one.

He said the provincial covernment would be a bridge between local government units and
geologists and engineers from national agencies such as the Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Department of Public Workds and
Highways, "and would in concept already have the ear of mayors and governors.”

“I’ve seen this work well in other countries, translating information from general overviews
to site specific advice. It’s far better to have this kind of advice right when any home or road
construction is being considered, rather than having this kind of advice after a disaster and
probably forgotten before the next one occurs," Newhall added.

Long-term solution

The Tiwi municipal government saw relocation as long-term solution.

“We are eyeing the former National Power Corporation housing in Barangay Putsan for the
relocation site. It has already a road network and can accommodate 700 households”
Villanueva said.

Of the 1500 to 1800 households that must be relocated, those from barangays Maynonong
and Dapdap are the most at risk.

“We have to [immediately] relocate 90% of the residents in Maynonong because there is a
crack in the slop,e” said Villanueva.

Currently, affected families from the uplands are in Naga National High School for
evacuation.

“The LGU will request to Power Sector and Liabilities Management the owner of the
property, to donate it to Tiwi,” he added.

Villanueva said he planned to present this plan to President Rodrigo Duterte, who was
scheduled to visit Sagñay town in Camarines Sur. The town suffered the highest death toll in
Bicol region due to Tropical Depression Usman. – Rappler.com
Buried and rescued: Tales of landslide
survivors, rescuers in Albay town
Overnight, the Consulta family loses 3 members to a landslide in Tiwi, Albay

Mavic Conde
Published 3:02 PM, January 16, 2019

SURVIVORS. Jayson Cipcon and Melita Consulta survived a landslide that killed 3 family
members in Tiwi, Albay. Photo by Mavic Conde

ALBAY, Philippines – It was a pitch-black night. A teen, who was going to their kitchen,
used his cellphone's flashlight to see in the dark. His stepfather and two sisters were sound
asleep. His mother was feeding the dog outside.

Except for the power outage and the nearly incessant rains for the last two days, all was well.
Or so they thought until they heard the rumbling sound from the mountain.

“Tiris (Landslide)," the woman outside the house thought upon hearing the sound.

In an instant, the raging mud and rocks fell on their house in barangay Maynonong in Tiwi –
one of the Albay towns severely hit by heavy rains brought by Tropical Depression Usman –
burying them all together.

But Jayson was determined to survive. He kept on waving his one arm, the only part of his
body up to his head that wasn’t buried, while holding the cellphone to catch attention.

Thankfully, their neighbors, a couple, rushed to where the light was and helped him.

The teenager's body was wounded all over when rescued. But Jayson was more determined to
find his parents and siblings. He called them out. Only his mother, Melita, responded.

"I'm here near the dog,” she said.

“The small gap between my mouth and the mud allowed me to answer my son, despite being
completely buried,” Melita said.

Jayson wasted no time. He dug and dug until only her lower half body remained buried, while
their neighbors called for help.

“I would never leave our place without my family,” Jayson said.

While his resolve was firm, her mother was losing it.

“It was so painful being buried there for 5 hours. I told him I couldn’t bear it anymore,”
Melita recalled.

“You have to, mother. We can’t lose you,” Jayson told his mother.

Jayson's two sisters who were buried in the landslide are his half-siblings from Melita's
second marriage. He had two older sisters based in Manila. They were supposed to be
together that day for the holiday break, but the two got stranded in Camarines Sur because of
the weather.

The community rescuers

“There were about 20 plus individuals who helped in rescuing Melita Consulta, Jayson’s
mother,” said Barangay Maynonong chairman Edwina Tevez.

According to Erik Bonaobra, one of the rescuers who acted as the leader, it took them hours
to rescue her because a motorcycle had pinned her down.

RESCUER. Erik Bonaobra, lead community rescuer, is staying in an evacuation center in

Barangay Naga in Tiwi while waiting for his relative in Manila to send him money for his
bus fare. Photo by Mavic Conde Photo by Mavic Conde

“I almost had no voice from shouting, directing the group when to pull, all at the same time,”
Bonaobra said.

“We couldn’t afford to loosen our grasp. Hence, she would bear the weight,” he added.

For Melita, she is beyond grateful to her son and her fellow villagers for saving her life.

While she was waiting to be freed, she was faced with the tragic reality. “I also knew at that
moment my sleeping husband and two daughters were dead,” a teary-eyed Melita said.

Bonaobra used to be part of the clearing operations team of an electric company, which gave
him skills in rescue operations. He said helping save Melita was his way of reciprocating a
good deed.

“I nearly drowned before but my peers saved me. That was my way of paying it forward,” he
said.

On loss and survival

The Consulta family lost 3 members. Their bodies were retrieved the next day and were
recently interred.

DEATH IN THE FMILY. Villagers bring out the dead members of the Consulta family.
Photo by Vin Sy

The village rescuers immediately brought their bodies downtown by boat, despite the rough
seas and the absence of a professional rescue team from the municipality because of road and
sea hazards at the time.

“We had to be quick because their bodies had started to smell,” said Bonaobra.

Jayson and Melita found themselves in a bittersweet situation.

“Buhay nga pero may mga nawala naman. Kaya masaya na malungkot (We're alive but also
lost loved ones. So it’s a kind of happy and sad state at the same time)," Jayson said

Melita agreed, adding, "People are telling me to carry on, but losing loved ones unexpectedly
makes that harder to do."

Melita said that what happened to them should serve as a lesson to their family and others to
be more vigilant in times of potential disasters.
Duterte blames mining for Cordillera landslides
By: Darryl John Esguerra 07:51 PM September 17, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday blamed the uncontrolled mining operations

in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for the landslides that struck
Itogon, Benguet during the onslaught of super Typhoon “Ompong” over the
weekend.
“Marami tayong problema sa (We have a lot of problems in the) mining industry, it
has not contributed anything substantial to the national economy. Though I must
admit that we earn about 70 billion a year. And if you’re ready to accept that as a
good, as a profit, let us make it simple for the country, but in the end, how much do
you lose in the process?” Duterte said during a briefing at the Provincial Capitol in
La Trinidad, Benguet.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday blamed the uncontrolled mining operations

in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for the landslides that struck
Itogon, Benguet during the onslaught of super Typhoon “Ompong” over the
weekend.

“Marami tayong problema sa (We have a lot of problems in the) mining industry, it
has not contributed anything substantial to the national economy. Though I must
admit that we earn about 70 billion a year. And if you’re ready to accept that as a
good, as a profit, let us make it simple for the country, but in the end, how much do
you lose in the process?” Duterte said during a briefing at the Provincial Capitol in
La Trinidad, Benguet.

“That mining thing has contributed a lot of heartaches for Filipinos. It is time for
us, particularly the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources)…
to take a second look at the dangers of open-pit mining,” he added.
The President even cited Davao’s problems with small-scale mining which,
according to him, resulted in the decline of tuna catch in the area due to pollution
from mining.

“One day, I’ll have to confront Congress and say we’ll have to close down mining
industry, or give Mother Earth a respite from the endless diggings,” Duterte added.
The President’s remark came after Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier
ordered the suspension of all small-scale mining activities in the Cordillera
following a landslide in the region that killed dozens of people.
President Duterte visits Naga landslide victims
September 22, 2018

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte gives an opportunity to one of the landslide victims in Naga City, Cebu to
voice out her concern. The President visited the victims who are currently taking shelter at the Enan
Chiong Activity Center (ECAC) on September 21, 2018. Also in the photo are Department of Interior and
Local Government (DILG) Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año and Secretary Christopher Lawrence 'Bong'
Go of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President. KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

NAGA CITY, Cebu — President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Friday, September 21, checked the conditions of
the landslide victims at the Enan Chiong Activity Center, which serves as a shelter to more or less 400
families of Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan who fled their homes in the wake of the incident that happened
on Thursday, September 20.
“I was saddened by what happened. The crisis that you are now going through is not easy. It is excruciating
because many people were affected and many had died,” he said.
During his visit, the Chief Executive talked to the families whose relatives were either reported dead or
missing.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Office of the President will provide
a total of P45, 000 to each family whose kin died in the landslide, and P10, 000 to those who were injured.
Apart from the cash aid, the President also ordered the related government agencies to attend to the needs of
the victims—from food to medical and burial support.
The President then asked the local government to provide the evacuees a proper relocation as they can no
longer head back to their previous homes because of the location’s potential danger to their lives.
“So now I asked [the] mayor, ‘What is your solution? You are the one who hails from here. You’re the
mayor.’ She said, ‘Mayor, we really need to transfer.’ ‘O sige, is there land that we can buy…that you can
transfer to?’ She said that there is a vacant lot there owned by the provincial government. So that made me
really happy because…government,” the President told the evacuees.
“Mayor said that the governor is ready to help and said it’s okay for you to transfer there. So now it has
spread. What will we do with that piece of land? Just sit on the ground? So, we need houses,” he added.
President Duterte cited that he will assign National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino
Escalada Jr. and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairperson Eduardo
Del Rosario to administer the construction of houses for the landslide victims.
“So, now that I told you about the relocation, I will also send the NHA here. I will look for funding,”
President Duterte noted.
The Chief Executive also mentioned the dangers of mining to the environment and the people’s lives.
Recently, a landslide incident happened in Itogon, Benguet after the onslaught of Typhoon ‘Ompong.’
Several days later, the landslide in Naga occurred due to heavy monsoon rain.
The landslide incidents may be weather-related, but, in truth, these are the effects of mining on the
environment.
According to the local DSWD, 32 are confirmed dead and nearly 50 still missing. The numbers are not yet
final as the rescue and retrieval operations continue in the area.
Accompanying the President during the visit were Secretary Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go of the Office
of the Special Assistant to the President, Presidential Assistant for Visayas Secretary Michael Dino,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu, Department of Social Welfare
and Development Acting Secretary Virginia Orogo, Department of Interior and Local Government Officer-
in-Charge Eduardo Año, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III, and Naga City Mayor Kristine Chiong