2 killed in Cebu landslide

CEBU CITY, Philippines—A couple died Tuesday evening when rocks from a landslide fell on their house on the slope of a hill in Barangay Cantao-an, Naga City.

Police Officer 1 Cleofas Cabrera of the Naga City Police Station identified the victims as Dionisio Vilarmia, 42, and his  wife Juliana, 47.  The couple’s four children, aged 13, 10, 6 and 5, were unharmed.

Cabrera said the couple and their children were about to sleep when the rocks and soil, apparently dislodged by a heavy downpour, rained down on their house.

Cabrera said Juliana died on the spot while Dionisio was pronounced dead on arrival at the Minglanilla District Hospital where he was rushed by relatives.

The landslide was caused by a heavy downpour that occurred in Cebu Tuesday afternoon.

The incessant rain was also believed to have caused the collapse of a  chapel in Barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City, where a funeral wake was being held. One person, Remegio Magallanes, 25, was injured.

Barangay Captain Roger Suson of Pagsabungan said the chapel might have been weakened by the earthquake on Friday and the rains might have caused it to collapse.

The heavy rain also caused major flooding in Cebu and Mandaue cities, affecting the vicinity of SM City Cebu in the city’s north reclamation area and causing traffic jams on Metro Cebu streets until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

So many people were stranded that the city government had to deploy buses to ferry the passengers.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration  recorded 40.6 mm of rain  from 1:40 p.m. until 10 p.m. Tuesday. It said the rain was due to the low pressure area 190 kilometers east of the Bicol region.