PDRRMO tells residents: Vacate landslide-prone areas

FOLLOWING last Thursday night’s landslide that killed two persons in Cebu City and the series of flash floods in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Toledo, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) urged residents living on riverbanks and landslide-prone areas to evacuate from these hazardous locations.

“We’re urging people, all over Cebu, who are living on riversides, riverbanks, and on the edge of mountains to evacuate. As much as possible, they should relocate to safer places because these are dangerous areas,” PDRRMO chief Baltazar Tribunalo told Capitol reporters by phone on Thursday.

Tribunalo added that residents should not take their office’s advisories for granted, and he suggested that they should not wait for local governments to forcibly evacuate them to safer areas.

“We have already identified disaster-prone areas, and these are dangerous. That’s why we want our people not to be complacent on our warnings. Follow what is advised. It is recommended for them to evacuate there even before LGUs (local government units) will take action,” he explained.

Since the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced on Sunday that this week will be a rainy one, Tribunalo said they immediately started monitoring the 10 towns in Cebu that are prone to flash floods and landslide.

These include the northern towns of Consolacion, Carmen, Tuburan, Asturias, Balamban and Danao City; and the towns of Pinamungajan and Argao, and the cities of Toledo and Talisay in the south.

“We’re closely monitoring the rivers and hills in these areas, together with their Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices (LDRRMO). We’ll be keeping watch on any small movements of the ground or slopes, and the water level of the rivers,” Tribunalo explained.

Except for a motorcycle driver, who, after being washed away by strong currents while traveling along a spillway, was found dead last Monday morning on the shore of seaside Barangay Bagacay in Sibonga town, more than 40 kilometers south of Cebu City, no casualties were reported before the province’s disaster office.

On Thursday evening, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Toledo City evacuated more than 100 individuals (20 families), residing on the banks of Hinulawan River in Sitio Hardin, Barangay Ilihan, to the barangay’s elevated covered court.

The Toledo City public information office told CDN by phone that residents of Sitio Hardin in Barangay Ilihan were forced to evacuate after several portions of the Hinulawan River overflowed.

Tribunalo, for his part, confirmed they have advised the LGU of Toledo City to evacuate people living in Sitio Hardin, Barangay Ilihan.

Meanwhile, several south-bound passengers were left stranded in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City, Thursday night as knee-deep flood waters made N.Bacalso Ave., Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City, unpassable.