Kalinga residents urged to relocate from sinking areas

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The Cordillera Mines and Geosciences Bureau has urged authorities to declare “sinking” barangays here hazard areas and advised residents to relocate to safer grounds.

The MGB declared cracks on the paved road and sinking of grounds in Dupag, this city were caused by faults.

MGB supervising geologist Benigno Espejo said five geohazard spots were observed by an MGB team.

The team observed cracks on the roads, retaining walls and surrounding areas measuring three to four inches as well as sinking of roads.

An “active: landslide zone was found in Upper Bullaguian of Dupag where at least 11 of the 30 houses located 30 meters above the road had cracks on their floors and walls.

According to residents, this occurred during Typhoon Pepeng last year.

Espejo recommended relocation of residents from the hazard zone, including a newly constructed barangay hall located just below the road.

He advised the village to consider building another hall on safer grounds.
Another identified hazard area was the Ottao section in Barangay where aside from cracks on concrete walls, the concrete pavement sank by 1.2 meters.

The contractor has to backfill the section to make it passable to vehicles.
The five hazard zones along the Dupag Section, Espejo said, should be declared as hot spots so that the government could allocate funds for their quick rehabilitation.

According to Espejo, geohazards are common in the Cordillera where 30 to 40 percent of the areas are highly prone to landslides while 70 to 90 percent are slide-prone.

These natural phenomena affected portions of the SONA (state of the nation) projects of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the region, resulting to delays and infrastructure damages. – Dexter A. See