Surigao villagers alarmed over cracks in 3 barangays

SURIGAO CITY — Residents in three mountain barangays of Tolingon, Binga and San Francisco, all in Mainit town, Surigao del Norte have expressed grave concern over the alarming increase in the size of land cracks in their area following the collapse of a road in Barangay Binga.

The regional office of the Bureau of Mines and Geo-Sciences (MGB) here had installed monitoring gadgets such as "Extensometer" to monitor land displacement caused by the cracking of lands in the three barangays.

MGB Caraga Region Chief Geologist Romeo Dalodado confirmed the cracks and claimed that there is an increase in its sizes and dimensions compared to 2001 when they were first discovered in 2001. Some residents als noticed soil erosions and land displacements caused by the cracks.

In Barangay Tolingan alone, six cracks were found while in Barangay Binga and Barangay San Fancisco, huge cracks were also found.

The increase in the displacement of land and soil erosion caused by the cracks was reported by Dalodado and his team to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB) national office in Manila.

The geohazard report conducted by DENR-MGB on March 9, 2006 showed that Tension Crack 1 in Barangay Tolingon has increased by 60 vertical centimeters.

On Jan. 8, 2002, Tension Crack 1 has a 30-centimeter vertical displacement, 10-centimeter horizontal displacement and some 160 meters treading north.

A study released on Feb. 27, 2006 showed that land displacement goes up to as high as a 90-centimeter vertical displacement and 30- centimeter horizontal displacement.

Tension Crack 1 in the said barangay was first discovered in Sitio Mina on Nov. 20, 2001. Tension Cracks 2 and 3 were found in 2002.

Dalodado said that heavy rainfall is one of the factors that caused the cracks.

He claimed that high magnitude earthquake may cause a possible landslide in Sitio Mina, Barangay San Francisco, Mainit, Surigao Del Norte since the village is near Mount Mina.

The Sitio Mina cracks are located at the back of a school in Barangay San Francisco.

Local officials and residents of the three barangays in Mainit town blamed the mining activities in the area for the increase in the number and sizes of the land cracks.