March 13, 2006
two villages at risk from landslide
The ugly episode that happened in St. Bernard in Southern Leyte is almost fading from the pages of newspapers. But I hope our collective memories of the landslide which obliterated a village and buried about a thousand people in minutes, will linger and drive the authorities to prevent similar catastrophes from ever happening again.I just read in the Inquirer (http://www.inq7.net) a report written by Nestor Burgos Jr. about an Iloilo village closely being watched for landslides. There have been continuing occurrences of minor landslide in Umingan village in Alimodian town, Burgos reported.Closer to home, at least two villages in eastern Pangasinan could be victims of landslides, too.Wendy Co, community environment and natural resources officer of eastern Pangasinan, said she has asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Mines and GeoSciences to study the geologic formation of the mountains and land in Tacnien, a sub-village of Sand Domingo in San Manuel town. The village has rivers and mountains on both sides, and usually the rivers overflow during rainy days and the mountains, like any other mountain in the country, have lost their trees. The village has about 100 households.
Another village that could be affected by a landslide is Maseil-seil in Umingan which lies at the foot of the Caraballo mountains. That part of the mountain eroded during the July 1990 earthquake and covered around 100 hectares with an average of two-meter deep mud.
Fernando Fontanilla, a village councilor, said rocks and stones continuously fall from the eroded area, but these are collected by construction companies which have put up crashing facility right in the village.
If the rocks and stones are not collected, the river below the mountain could have been filled, he said. At least 60 truckloads of rocks and stones are gathered daily at the site, giving income to the village through taxes from the quarrying activities.
But nobody is taking a look at the mountain which may continuously be eroding with all the stones and rocks dropping by the tons. To be considered too, is the fact that the Digdig Fault runs underneath eastern Pangasinan towns.
Will these two villages suffer the fate of Guinsaagon? God forbid!
