Cebu City Clears Roads Blocked by Landslides

The Cebu City government sent workers and heavy equipment to the city’s mountain villages to clear roads that were blocked by landslides on Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) chief, Nagiel Bañacia, said all roads were passable as of Wednesday afternoon.

Workers used a backhoe to remove huge slabs of cement, which used to be part of a retaining wall along the highway in Sitio Garaje, Barangay Busay, Cebu City.

A portion of the retaining wall collapsed on nine parked passenger jeepneys after a landslide occurred in the area past 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

No one was reported hurt.

Earlier, the Cebu City Council declared all of the city’s 30 upland villages under a state of calamity because of the landslides.

Bañacia said the CCDRRMO has evacuated some 220 families from Barangays Bacayan, Pit-os and Sirao since Monday night.

About 102 families in Bacayan have been rescued, while 27 families have been evacuated in Pit-os. They are taking shelter in their barangay gym.

In Sirao, some 63 families were taken to the Sirao Elementary School, while 28 families were also evacuated to the Pungol-Sibugay Gym after a massive landslide hit Mt. Kan-irag, also in Sirao.

All the rescued families were provided with relief goods and dignity kits by the city social welfare office as they were barred from returning home.

“The area affected by the landslide in Sirao is still very dangerous. The earth is still moving,” Bañacia said. (PNA)CVL/EB/EDS