As a measure to help prevent disasters, the city will ask the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau to conduct a geodetic mapping of the mountain barangays.
This is meant to help foresse probable problem areas following the recent landslide that hit the mountain barangay of Sinsin. Some portions of the road were destroyed in that landslide and 41 families have been identified to be in the danger zone.
MGB 7 director Roger de Dios said they have not received formal request from the city, but in event the city sends it request, he said they would forward it to their Manila office for approval.
De Dios said that his office would also ask for additional personnel because their office here presently only has two geologists.
City planning and development coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete said he had already discussed the plan with de Dios.
He said the city wants to know the layout and formation of the soil in the mountain barangays to determine possible hazards and what specific areas are these.
“We want to have geodetic determination if there are faults and slips in that areas and what possible geological hazards that threaten them,” Villarete said.
He said they want to have a geodetic detailed mapping of the whole city but it may cost much. For now, he said they will concentrate on the ones that are most likely to be part of the hazard area like Sinsin and other barangays that are often threatened by landslide.
If the plan pushes through, he said the city government would be the one to shoulder the expenses of the activity and may even provide additional personnel to help the MGB.
But before this bigger project, the MGB 7 personnel and the city’s Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) is set to do a more detailed geohazard mapping of barangay Sinsin this week to determine the “danger zones.”
The MGB has recently recommended to the Cebu City Disaster Council to evacuate the residents of sitio Nangka in Sinsin following the landslide the other week.
A team that inspected the area has noticed tension cracks upslope and down slope of the affected area, adding landslide will possibly happen during rains because of the unstable condition of the slope.
The CCDC has also proposed for the allocation of P5,000 each family that would be evacuated from the affected area. — Wenna A. Berondo/NLQ