Force evacuation of Pantukan landslide site gets underway

PANTUKAN, Philippines — The local government on Wednesday sent a demolition crew to the mountain village of Napnapan to tear down shanties and other structures owned by small-scale miners and to forcibly evacuate people still living there.

Rescuers sift through the earth and mud Friday (Jan. 6, 2012), a day after a landslide occurred at the small-scale mining community of Pantukan, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines. At least 22 people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in the landslide. AP

The demolition of the shanties comes six days after a landslide that killed more than 30 people in Diat Uno and Diat Dos sections of Napnapan.

Dr. Arnulfo “Bong” Lantayan, spokesman for the Municipality of Pantukan, said the demolition team would “destroy some 150 to 200 shanties in the area.”

Lantayan said the municipal government would not provide any relocation site for the people ordered to leave the area.

“If it’s possible, the entire village will be demolished because it is really dangerous out there,” Lantayan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.