School, Jail, 950 families need to be relocated

CEBU, Philippines — After scrutinizing the post-landslide assessment of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Naga City government has undertaken massive efforts - moving one school population to a safer venue and working on the transfer of the inmates whose jail might be at risk from landslide.

The city government is also at a loss on how to go about with the hundreds of households that have to be evacuated because they are sitting on a critical zone that was found to show signs of possible landslide or subsidence.

At a press briefing on Monday, the Naga City government reported that around 850 to 950 households or families are still staying at the "no permanent habitation zone."

As recommended by experts, this area, which lies outside the immediate landslide area or danger zone, is unsafe for habitation and so no one is allowed to reside here.

This prompted Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong to travel to Manila last week to meet DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu and Eduardo Aña, Department of the Interior and Local Government secretary, seeking for guidance and assistance.

Chiong said yesterday that whatever the decision of the higher officials will be, if more of these communities have to be evacuated, the city government will have to request for assistance from the national government especially on their permanent relocation.

She said that the city may lack resources if it has to cater to more displaced families. The city has enough funds only for the initial number of 444 families identified in the previous delineation.

But the recent report from DENR, which was done by the state geologists and mining engineers, has a larger coverage of affected area, which the city government pegs at around 700 hectares.

Apparently, the latest report on the delineated critical zone translates that there are more families to be evacuated than those already at the evacuation centers.

As of Nov.9, there are more than 1,800 families sheltered at the 10 evacuation centers in Naga.

For now, Chiong said there is an ongoing ground validation and marking to identify the house owners inside the critical zone.

She said the city government will also have to explain to the possible affected households about the maps and the DENR findings, and why there is a need to relocate them so as to prevent panic.

Moreover, experts have elevated the landslide susceptibility rate of two areas in Naga City from "high" to "very high" - the Cantao-an Elementary and High School; and the Naga City Jail.

Chiong said classes there have been moved to the covered court of Barangay Cantao-an, adopting to an emergency class schedule.

The school has more than 900 elementary pupils and around 420 high school students.

She admitted the high school principal visited her and requested that they be allowed to return to their campus but Chiong refused, saying she could not afford to place people at risk especially after the deadly landslide last Sept. 20.

Chiong said the city government is considering at constructing another school building but on a safer ground.

Also, she said the city has requested the BJMP officials to transfer temporarily at least 412 inmates at the Naga City Jail to the Cebu City Jail's female dormitory. The transfer is scheduled on the last week of November.

Chiong said the prisoners may be moved back there after the slope stabilization works are completed.

The city government is taking extra precautions especially that there are still "progressive" cracks discovered at a ridge in Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Tina-an.

A landslide, triggered by a karst subsidence, occurred at the barangay last Sept. 20 that killed 78 people while 18 survived. At least six individuals are still unaccounted for as of this time. (FREEMAN)