EDITORIAL - When the earth shifts

Three people --an elderly woman and her two grandchildren-- died after they were buried in a landslide in Sitio Riverside, Barangay Pulangbato, Cebu City, last Friday, October 9.

According to reports, the victims and the mother of the family were having lunch when the landslide happened. Julie Pearl Andamon was later pulled out alive from the debris by rescuers, but her son Kayden Avery Andamon, 6, his cousin Xian Kyrie Caballero, 5, and their grandmother Judith Bonghanoy, 60, were dead when they were found.

We cannot imagine the pain of Julie Pearl at losing not just her mother but also her son. We also cannot imagine the pain of her father Renante Bonghanoy, who just bought toy trucks for the two kids, at losing his wife and two grandchildren. It’s a pain none of us ought to experience.

But like we say in any disaster that happens, the best thing we can do is to turn it into a teachable moment so that, hopefully, it will not happen again.

So what is to be done to prevent this from happening again?

Yes, we can shore up risky mountain slopes with riprap, yes we can reinforce houses to become landslide resistant and, yes, we can even plant more trees to make unstable areas more secure. But perhaps the most effective way to prevent landslide deaths is to no longer build in landslide-prone areas.

That particular area in Sitio Riverside has long been known for landslides. In fact, Barangay Pulangbato disaster co-chairman Clyde Limpag said the area is disaster-prone with previous landslides recorded.

We realize not allowing people to build in certain areas may be easier said than done. People live in such areas, like near rivers prone to flooding, or slopes prone to landslides, because they have nowhere else to build. Of course, it can also be that an area was once stable and safe but then became at-risk because of geographic as well as climate changes.

But, like with anything else, prevention will always be better than the cure.