An aerial view of the landslide along the Taft-Paranas road in Barangay Binaloan, Taft, Eastern Samar. | photo by Charles White courtesy of DPWH Eastern Samar head Manolo A. Rojas
MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte—Clearing of the landslide area in the Taft-Paranas road in Barangay Binaloan, Taft, Eastern Samar will take over a week.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (ESDEO) head Engr. Manolo A. Rojas said the road clearing would take over a week since the rock/landslide is still progressing due to continuous rain in the area.
The landslide occurred on Tuesday dawn, January 7, 2020.
Read: Landslide blocks road in Eastern Samar
“We could not go full blast in our clearing because it is still raining and it would be dangerous to our operators,” Rojas said. “And besides, our clearing is calibrated because the rocks on the road slope are as big as our dump truck.”
Rojas said they have to break the rocks to smaller pieces before they could load them to their equipment.
Based on a drone survey, Rojas said the affected area is around 450 linear meters with an estimated 8,000 cubic meters of earth to be cleared.
Rojas noted that it wouldn’t be safe to force the issue, citing the incident last Friday, January 3, 2020, when two vans and a bus were partially buried when they were hit by a landslide while they were passing by. No one was hurt in the incident, said Rojas.
“After clearing half lane of the landslide area, the two vans and a bus tried to pass. But they were caught in another landslide.”
Rojas offered motorists plying this route an alternate route via the coastal Beunavista-Lawaan-Basey road in going to Catbalogan city and vice-versa. /bmjo