Girl, 5 buried alive, 3 hurt in Kalinga; buildings damaged

By Jessica Jane Barriento and Jesse Maguiya

LUBUAGAN, Kalinga -- A 5-year old girl was declared dead after being buried alive by a landslide here Tuesday in Barangay Mabilong at the height of Typhoon Rosita

Romel Salbang, municipal Disaster officer said it was around 4 p.m. when the house she was staying in with two others was covered by the landslide.

He said the girl named Sotera Giwagiw Galo was brought to Kalinga District Hospital but was declared dead on arrival around 4:20 p.m. due to brain injury.

Meanwhile, two other victims were brought to the same hospital for medical treatment. 

Her younger brother Aaron Dwight Giwagiw Galo has injured in his elbow and lower lip.

Also, Maribel Giwagiw, 23 was wounded on both her feet, treated in hospital and discharged.

In Barangay Poblacion, a 50-year old woman was hit on her lumbar when she tried to run away from landslide.

She was immediately brought to the hospital and was confined.

Salbang said the incidents were caused by continuous heavy rains due to Typhoon Rosita.

"Rosita" (Yutu) pummeled Kalinga starting past midnight Monday, washing away one whole school, submerging another up to the ceiling, and leaving at least one house totally wrecked and 18 other residential buildings partially damaged as of Tuesday afternoon.

As of 4 p.m. on Tuesday three out of four school buildings of Dacalan Elementary School in Tanudan town were left "hanging" on the mountain, after these were submerged in flood water that came from overflowing Tanudan river.

Tanudan Mayor Johnwell Tiggangay said the last building standing on the ground was half-submerged in the murky water.

But before the buildings of the school were washed away, residents in the area tried to move out and save classroom chairs and other school equipment at midday.

Tiggangay added the entire compound of another school in town, the Lubo Elementary School in Barangay Lubo, was under water as of this posting. 

The mayor said that no residents in Tanudan were evacuated, as the houses were located on top of the mountain, much higher than where the schools were located.

But several residential buildings in other towns in Kalinga were damaged. One house was reportedly totally wrecked in Lubuagan town. Ten other houses were partially damaged in Lubuagan and eight others were also partially damaged in Pasil town, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC).

No injury has been reported so far in Kalinga province, which has been placed under Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 2 since Monday.

The province was placed on red alert as of Tuesday morning.

By 3 p.m., the Kalinga PDRRMC reported that 25 barangays in the seven municipalities and one city in the province had evacuated 610 families or 1,865 persons.

Even before Sunday, public school teachers in Kalinga were ordered to surrender their classroom keys, so the schools could be used as evacuation centers.

Classes in the province have been suspended since Monday.

Kalinga is on the northern part of Cordillera, adjacent to Cagayan and Isabela, where “Rosita” was expected to pass.

The province was among the hardest hit by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) in mid-September, with a large portion of its rice plantation flooded and damaged.

Residents, however, have described "Rosita" as worse than "Ompong." – With a PNA report