A backhoe operator started clearing the road of soil that buried the vehicles, including one car in the area. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Janette Famador was still in her sari-sari store along the highway in the mountain barangay of Busay in Cebu City at 2 a.m. yesterday when she noticed small rocks rolling past the hillside.
She said it has been a normal occurrence in their area in Sitio Garaje in the past few days due to recent rains.
But a few minutes later, the rocks were followed by soil that buried several passenger jeepneys along the road.
The landslide occurred just beside the slope of the hill which leads to popular sites in the area like Lantaw Restaurant and Temple of Leah.
“Mora siya og linog. Mora og nagdugdog. Grabe kakusog ang paghugno sa yuta. Naa sad morag spark sa kuryente kay naigo man ang mga wires (It was like an earthquake. It was like thunder. It was so loud when the soil started eroding. There were also sparks from wires that were hit during the landslide),” Famador said.
A large volume of soil collapsed under the house of the Castello family after a landslide buried 12 jeepneys in Sitio Garahe, Upper Barangay Busay, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A one-hour brownout followed the incident, she recalled. Power was later restored by personnel of the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco).
The 41-year-old Famador, who has been living in the area since birth, said it was the first time she saw a huge landslide in the area.
The landslide destroyed a cement retaining wall that was built to hold off the soil.
A portion of the wall also collapsed and fell on the parked jeepneys.
Huge slabs of the cement wall fell down on the vehicles, reducing them into crumpled scraps of metal.
Another resident in the area, 29-year-old habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver Jason Camba said he was surprised when he heard the loud rumbling of rocks and boulders falling past the hillside.
An aerial view of the landslide-hit area in Sitio Garahe, Upper Barangay Busay. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Camba was on the road with a passenger when the incident happened.
“Dira gyud baya ko tig park usahay. Maghigda-higda sad ko sa ako motor kung duka na. Maayo gani wala ko pagkahitabo (I would usually park in that area. I would lie on my motorcycle when I felt sleepy. Good thing I was not there when it happened),” he said.
Aside from jeepneys, one car and two motorcycles were also buried by the landslide.
Residents and barangay employees pull out one of two motorcycles that were buried by the landslide. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)