AS NEW TEAM OF GEOLOGISTS ARRIVE
EVACUEES living within the one-kilometer critical zone from the ground zero in Naga City’s landslide hit area will have to wait for at least another week before they will know if they will be allowed to return to their homes.
This is because another team of geologists from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) arrived in Naga City last Sunday to assess again the 170-hectare delineated critical zone in Barangay Tinaan.
Naga City Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong said the geologists will be assesing the landslide area for a week.
“As of now, nag-assess pa gyud sila. They’re doing some studies, unya naa silay gadgets nga gidala to check kon unsa gyu’y nahitabo,” Chiong said.
Chiong also said that it is like asking for a “second opinion” following the first survey conducted a week earlier.
She said that this is a good opportunity for Naga City to have its lands assessed by expert geologists.
Evacuees have been anxiously waiting for the results of the first assessment since the landslide hit three weeks ago, killing at least 77 residents.
“One thing for sure, there are areas or houses nga dili na gyud pwede balikan. They (survivors) will be temporarily relocated,” Chiong said, adding that DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said that evacuees can still return to their houses once the soil has stabilized in two to three years time.
‘Stay in evac’
Chiong once again pleaded to the evacuees to refrain from going back to their homes, since the landslide-hit area has not yet been declared safe by the DENR.
Some evacuees have reportedly been going back to their homes to do household chores like cooking and doing laundry, then returning to the evacuation centers at night.
Meanwhile, the procurement process has started for the construction of the 320-unit socialized housing project by the National Housing Authority and augmented with 80-units from the local government unit for the landslide victims.
Chiong said that the site of the housing project which used to be the railway track of the Philippine Railway in Cebu, has started to be cleared.