Mass evacuation ordered for residents of mining area

The Mines Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and Task Force Diwalwal yesterday ordered 10,500 persons involved in small-scale mining operations in gold-rush areas in Pantukan and Mt. Diwalwal to evacuate mining danger zones to avert further loss of lives as the reported missing person in a landslide-hit area was found dead by a search and rescue team.

Carmelito Luspo, regional director of OCD-10, said the 500 persons in the Biasong gold-rush area in Pantukan town and about 10,000 small-scale miners in Buringot area on Mt. Diwalwal here were also told to immediately leave high-risk areas as rains have poured down since last Sunday.

Pantukan Mayor Juan Cipriano Celso V. Sarenas ordered the immediate stoppage of small-scale mining operations in Biasong, following the landslide that took place there Tuesday evening. At least four persons were instantly buried in mud, while five others were seriously injured.

Last Thursday afternoon, the body of the missing person, identified as Marilyn Magdipeg, 33, was found, while another injured person was immediately taken to Tagum City Hospital.

Luspo said the five victims, through their relatives, were given R10,000 assistance each by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) through OCD-10, while six other injured persons were given R5,000 each.

He said that Compostela Valley Gov. Jose Caballero mobilized his evacuation team to proceed to identified gold-rush areas to evacuate the people living within the high risk zones to safer ground.

The municipal disaster coordinating councils were also directed to prepare contingencies for the evacuation of miners to safer areas in five localities.

Meanwhile, the MGB and OCD 10 reported yesterday that 70 families alarmed by unusual ground movements in Barangay Magsaysay, Kibawe town, Bukidnon province were ordered evacuated.

Retired Col. Salvador G. Estudillo, OCD-10 regional director, said the evacuation of residents in Magsaysay was based on the assessment submitted by geologists that big cracks were found in the “poblacion” of barangay.

“The site of Magsaysay Elementary School is also affected adversely by traverse cracks, while landslips were also found in the barangay, where slipped surfaces measuring about four meters have been found. Cultivated land was also adversely affected,” Estudillo said.

He added that six houses were damaged by the ground movement.

“The barangay health center, road, barangay hall, basketball court, solar dryer, and electric posts in the area were also damaged,” he added.

Source: www.mb.com.ph