56 families last to leave Naga evacuation center

Home at last. An evacuee happily unloads his belongings from the tricycle as he arrives in his house in Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan, Naga City on Saturday.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

RED ZONE EVACUEES: Home for Christmas

It will be a merry Christmas for the thousands of evacuees displaced by the Sept. 20 landslide in Naga City as they have been allowed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7) to leave the evacuation centers and return to their homes.

These involved the 3,815 evacuees or 975 families, who had been cooped up in different evacuation centers in the city, who were finally allowed to return to their homes in Barangay Tinaan starting Thursday.

On Saturday, the last batch made up of 56 families, whose homes are in the Red Zone or The No Permanent Habitation Zone, happily packed their things and left the evacuation center – the Naga City gymnasium – where they have been staying for more than two months.

The MGB-7 presented three zones as a result of their assessment: Maroon Zone for the danger zone, the Red Zone, and the Green Zone or the Regulated or Restricted Zone.

On Saturday, Cebu Daily News interviewed Julieta Villarico, 46, of Sitio Sindulan I, Barangay Tinaan, who was happily packing her family’s belongings at the evacuation center.

“Makalipay nga sa amoa gyud ming balay magpasko karon (I am so happy that me and my family can celebrate Christmas at home),” said Villarico.

PREPARING TO GO HOME. The last batch of evacuees at the Naga City gymnasium happily pack their belongings and prepare themselves for their return to their homes in the Red Zone on Saturday.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

She and her family and each of the 55 other families were given a card, which contained their names and the area they were classified in as a “Red Zone.”

The go signal for the evacuees to return home happened after the MGB Central Office endorsed the MGB-Central Visayas’ harmonized and revised reassessment of the delineated critical zones surrounding the landslide’s ground zero in Sitio Sindulan III.

“Kahit na binigyan po kayo ng go signal, kailangan pa rin po kayo mag-ingat (dahil) may mataas na antas na paguho o high (possibility of a) landslide.

Intact yung slope kaya lang masyadong steep sa lugar ninyo,” Salvio Laserna, MGB Central Office supervising geologist, told the evacuees in a briefing yesterday (Saturday) at the Naga City hall.

(Even if you have been given the go signal to return home, you still have to be vigilant. The slope in your area is still intact, but it is very steep.)

Laserna said that the residents in the Red Zone had been only temporarily allowed to go back to their homes.

He said that the Central office already asked the local government of Naga City, Cebu to look for relocation site for those in Red Zone areas.

“Posible pa rin yung landslide lalo na kung may bagyo o lindol. Dapat evacuate agad kayo,” said Laserna.

(There is still a possibility of a landslide especially during a typhoon or an earthquake. So you should evacuate immediately when these will happen.)

Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong said that the residents in the Red Zone would be closely monitored.