DAVAO CITY — The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region 12 has asked the local government of Barangay Ned in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato to reroute the roads frequently hit by landslide and relocate residents to avoid complications in the future.
Based in the statement made by Ariel Acosta, MGB-12 supervising geologist as published by the Philippine News Agency, the roads in the village of Ned has various ground tension cracks as a result which stemmed from the sporadic landslides in the area due to the prolonged heavy rains.
Ned is situated in the tri-boundary of provinces of South Cotabato Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat.
On Tuesday, the MGB inspected the area and found serious tension cracks in at least five sitios in Barangay Ned that could eventually trigger major landslides and other related calamities.
The affected villages include portions of sitios Eldolog, Tuburan, Polosubong, Kiantay and Tawan Dagat.
Tension cracks were reported in 2016 which the MGB traced to the steep slopes and weak underlying lithology.
He explained that the materials underneath roads are already overly saturated by water and since gravity is working, and the downward movement of the soil affected the foundation.
He said such situation mainly caused the over saturation of the soil and led to several landslides.
The recent earthquakes has further contributed the weakening of the ground which triggered the landslides.
The mines bureau, the provincial disaster risk reduction management office and the municipal government of Lake Sebu are now working to relocate the residents near the landslide prone areas.
“There should be an immediate relocation of houses and other affected infrastructure to safer areas,” Acosta said.
Areas showed cracks and perceived to have weak foundation have been recommended by the MGB to be declared “no build zones” and “no settlement areas.”
“Landslides have recurrence periods so the affected areas could be affected by similar occurrences in the future,” he said.-ezc
