Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes today urged concerned local officials to permanently relocate families living along a portion of Sarangani Bay in Glan, Sarangani Province, which was recently hit by a landslide and was earlier identified by geologists to be a high risk area.

“The area is dangerous and I strongly urge concerned local government units to permanently relocate residents in the area to avoid further injuries and loss of lives,” Reyes said.

Reyes made the appeal even as a team from DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region 12 led on Saturday the evacuation of some 37 households from the affected sitios of Upper Pagang and Talampasan in Barangay Balinton.

“The affected families have been temporarily relocated at the Barangay Hall. We have recommended their permanent relocation and we hope we could get everybody’s cooperation on this because this is also for their own safety,” MGB Region 12 Director Efren Carrido said.

Reyes has ordered the immediate evacuation of the residents of Sitios Upper Pagang and Talampasan following an MGB geohazard investigation that identified the areas at high risk.

MGB geologists conducted a geohazard investigation in the area after it was hit by a landslide last week (August 30, 2006). No one was injured or killed in the incident, but it caused panic among hundreds of residents as well as damages to some properties.

Investigations revealed that the landslide was induced by intense rainfall. Geologists described the incident as an “advanced stage of landslide,” given the numerous multiple ground cracks with relative movement observed in the area.

Geologists added that the ground cracks, which are continuously deepening and widening, have already reached 40 hectares, and expected to affect more areas surrounding the agricultural land.

The landslide area is also adjacent to the site of a landslide in the same Barangay in August 2004, which geologists said serves as a warning that occurrence of major landslide in the area is not remote.

During the 2004 landslide incident, MGB had already recommended the relocation of the residents in the area to Barangay Calabanit, however, residents refused to leave their homes mainly for economic reasons.

September 9, 2006