No build zones

The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office has placed a warning sign at the side of the road in Barangay Sirao advising visitors that the area is a landslide prone one. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

Landslide hit areas in Sitios Kan-irag and Tawagan II in Barangay Sirao will become a no-build zone.

This developed after Cebu City and Sirao barangay officials said yesterday that they would enforce the recommendation of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7) to keep the landslide-stricken areas as no-build zones.

The move would affect some of the 100 families, who were evacuated in these areas, who would not be allowed to settle in their farms and houses but they would be allowed to visit and till their farms.

“We have been expecting that recommendation from MGB. Now, we have to meet with the people, and we will have the MGB explain to the local populace the effects of the landslide,” said Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) head Nagiel Bañacia.

Bañacia, however, said that they would only implement it after a dialogue with the affected residents next week, which would also be attended by barangay officials and the MGB-7.

He said they would also discuss possible areas within Barangay Sirao to relocate the affected residents.

Bañacia said they would coordinate with the MGB-7 to identify the relocation site to be sure that it is not dangerous and susceptible to landslides.

MGB-7 information officer Marian Codilla earlier reported that after their geologists inspected the area, it was found out that since the ground characteristic of the site is clayish, it is expected to continue moving especially during rains, and eventually cause more landslides.

The MGB-7 recommended that no structures should be allowed within the affected area including houses.

They, however, are allowed to visit the area to farm and even the Sirao flower may continue to operate and take in tourists as long as there are no people settling in the area.

Sirao barangay councilwoman Susan Arcilla said they will follow the MGB’s recommendation.

As of their latest count, she said there are a total of 116 families that have been evacuated.

There are 35 families in the Malubog sports complex, 60 families in the Sirao Elementary School and another 21 families in the Sirao daycare center.

She said only those really near the affected sites would not be allowed to go back.

“Those evacuees who are really near the landslide area will not be allowed to return. But those are only few,” she said in Cebuano.

Charita Habel, 23, of Sitio Kan-irag, said that the Cebu City government had prohibited them from going back from their houses.

“We are not allowed to go back yet because the land is still moving. It is still dangerous for us,” said Habel, who has a husband and a child, in Cebuano.

She said that with the current situation in the mountain barangay, there is a big possibility that they cannot go back to their place anymore.

“Mura’g klaro man ni nga papahawaon mi. Wala g’yud mi padulngan (It seems like we are not going back anymore. We have nowhere to go),” Habel said.

Jun Gomez, 39, a farmer in Sitio Tawagan II, said he and his family would likely return to their farm even without the approval of the Cebu City government.

Gomez, who has a wife and three children, said farming is their only means of livelihood.

He said he lost a lot in the landslide which destroyed the flowers that they would have harvested and killed the three goats that were ready to be sold.