DANGER ZONE. A worker monitors rockfall in the Manipis road. CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO
TALISAY City Mayor Johnny delos Reyes has ordered the automatic closure of the landslide-prone Manipis Road whenever there’s a heavy downpour to prevent fatal accidents from happening again.
Vince Monterde, city information officer and head of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the mayor issued the verbal directive to QM Builders, the private contractor working on the widening of the Manipis Road.
The measure came after a 43-year-old woman was killed at dawn Monday after she was hit in the head during a rockslide as she and her family passed by Manipis Road.
“Both ends of the road will be closed and warning signs will be put up informing people of the danger of falling rocks,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Delos Reyes has also tasked QM builders to designate people to direct traffic on regular days.
Meanwhile, the city government reiterated its call on residents to leave the landslide-prone area for their own safety.
Monterde said that residents who evacuated from their homes during the onslaught of tropical depression Queenie last week have gone back. Monterde said they could not stop the residents from returning.
forced (Mayor Delos Reyes doesn’t want to force them out),” he said.