DAVAO CITY —- The inclement weather condition and the series of earthquakes past weeks triggered landslide yesterday afternoon disconnecting Mati City from six other coastal towns of Davao Oriental.
The affected towns include Taragona, Manay, Caraga, Baganga, Cateel and Boston, which is located along the east coast of Davao Oriental.
The landslide occurred between Barangay Mayo, Mati City and Barangay Tagabakid ini Taragona town, according to Office of Civil Defense Regional Director Ednar Dayanghirang.
“Series of earthquakes and the shear line caused ground movement,” Dayanghirang emphasized.
Dennis Awing, chief of Taragona Municipal Risk Reduction and Management Office told Newsline the continued “We already notified the motorist yesterday afternoon because we noticed the ground movement, until now the soil continue to erode, this morning, it has been rendered totally impassable to all types of vehicles even for humans.”
“Climate change, it is the biggest challenge we are facing,” said Awing “This magnitude of disaster has never happened before.”
The City Government of Mati also notified the public via their social media account that the road has been rendered impassable on Wednesday afternoon.
At around 3:00 in the afternoon Wednesday, a teacher recalled, “We were traversing the Mati City-Taragona national highway via Bao-bao (improvised tricycle) when we heard a loud thud which was followed by the landslide and then we noticed water dripping from the ground, a minute after, the highway road was rendered impassable.”
ALTERNATE ROUTE
As of early morning Thursday, the City Government of Mati established a checkpoint in the area prohibiting anyone to pass the highway.
Awing said those who have emergencies can only traverse the area via a boat which costs P250 per person for a 45-minute sea travel from Taragona to Tagabakid to Lukatan in Mati City and vice versa.
Motorists from Taragona, Manay, Caraga, Baganga, Cateel , Boston to Davao City and vice versa, Dayanghirang said, must travel via the Cateel, Davao Oriental road to Compostela Valley Highway in Davao de Oro.
