CEBU CITY, Philippines—Hundreds of families in Toledo City could be celebrating the Holidays away from their homes.
This after the local government in this western city of Cebu confirmed that at least 400 households were identified to be at risk following the landslide that occurred in an open-pit mining site owned and operated by Carmen Copper Corporation (CCC) last December 21, 2020 that claimed the lives of four miners.
John Roseller Layan, Toledo City Public Information Officer, said the local government, led by Mayor Marjorie Perales, will be meeting with officials from the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7), and representatives from CCC to discuss their evacuation plans on Thursday, December 24.
“During the meeting, we will be discussing guidelines on how the evacuation will be carried out,” Layan told CDN Digital in a phone interview.
Layan also confirmed that they initially scheduled for the evacuation to take place on Christmas Eve, Thursday.
“But we have to thoroughly evaluate and talk this one. Nevertheless, the local government, together with barangay officials, have started disseminating and giving notices to affected residents,” added Layan.
The proposal to relocate 400 households to safer places stemmed from findings of CCC’s own geologists that cracks near the slopes of the landslide site widened in just a short amount of time.
“When the mayor inspected the area, and learned about this development, she immediately convened all concerned officials to come up with a response, and decided that evacuation for families living within a 500-meter radius from the landslide site was needed to avoid any untoward incidents especially that it’s the Holidays,” said Layan.
He added that they have already identified at least three areas where to relocate the affected families.
MGB-7 has earlier issued a notice to CCC to suspend operations following the landslide ” until such time that the hazards are removed.”
At least six other miners remain missing as of Thursday, and state geologists suspected that they could now be underwater.
CCC, in an earlier statement released, assured the public that “close coordination and communication with the affected immediate families are being conducted and will continue to extend the needed support and assistance.” /bmjo