Communities near Mt. Parker warned of more landslides

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat - South Cotabato officials warned yesterday farming communities crisscrossed by rivers springing from the crater lake of Mt. Parker of more landslides after Wednesday’s strong earthquake weakened the crater lake’s outlet.

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes said technical staffers of the provincial government found out that 23 spots around Lake Maughan have been affected by landslides since Wednesday.

This, she said, has caused the crater lake to rise to an unusual level.

In the meantime, she said they will enforce tight measures to prevent people from areas near the banks of the Datal creek and the Allah River from getting affected by flash floods or landslides in case the situation at Lake Maughan worsens.

Fuentes described the situation at Lake Maughan as "unpredictable," requiring round-the-clock monitoring by experts.

Lake Maughan, about a mile in diameter, is a natural reservoir of some 50 million cubic meters of water.

Sources from Tiboli, a hinterland town where Mt. Parker is located, have confirmed that the crater lake’s downstream outlet, which drains into rivers surrounding the town, has collapsed due to the earthquake.

The sudden downstream gush of water from the lake destroyed several bridges connecting at least 18 villages in the South Cotabato towns of Surallah, Lake Sebu and Tiboli.

At least 10 barangays in Lake Sebu have been isolated because the bridge connecting them to the town center has been destroyed, the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. said in a report.

Fuentes said relief workers have started transporting cereals to the 10 barangays for distribution to the affected villagers.

Sultan Kudarat officials have also alerted communities along the banks of the Allah River of possible flooding if the crater lake’s wall collapses.

The Allah River, crisscrossing farming communities in the two neighboring provinces, springs from the crater lake of Mt. Parker.

Farming communities along the banks of Allah River have barely recovered from the devastation wrought by a 1995 disaster where some 30 million cubic meters of water from the crater lake flowed downstream, sweeping boulders and logs and plowing through entire villages. — John Unson