Execs to clear landslide-hit Samar village

TACLOBAN CITY—Authorities are planning to empty what was tagged as a landslide prone area in Catbalogan City populated by at least 100 families following a Nov. 22 landslide that killed a boy there.

Nida Aroda, Catbalogan social welfare officer, said on Thursday at least 100 families are living in Sitio Cogao in Barangay Bunuanon, which was declared a danger zone after the Nov. 22 landslide.

Aroza said the city’s disaster risk reduction management council met last Friday about the plan. Barangay Lagundi was identified as a possible relocation site where cheap houses would be built for the uprooted residents.

But a regional official of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the village tagged as relocation site was also a danger zone.

James Leones, regional chief geologist of the MGB, said in a phone interview that some parts of Lagundi are also landslide prone.