Albay disaster officials dispute report 10 killed in landslide
LEGAZPI CITY – Disaster officials here said nobody perished in the landslide that buried three houses in and isolated a remote village in the town of Manito, Albay on Sunday morning.
Contrary to an earlier report of the town mayor that 10 persons were feared dead in the incident, all of the residents affected by the landslide, numbering over a hundred, were all accounted for by rescuers sent to the area, said Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo).
The landside occurred at around 9 a.m. Sunday in Sitio (sub village) Inang Maharang, an interior and slopy farming community of Barangay (village) Nagotgot about 15 kilometers from the town proper, after heavy rains spawned by tropical storm Amang softened soil in the surrounding hillside, Daep said.
“We are now working on forming a composite team to make an action on evacuating all the residents to safer areas,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Perfecto Peṅaredondo of the 2nd Infantry Division of Philippine Army said soldiers from his division, brought into the village by a military helicopter, were now in the area assisting the rescued residents.
The village remained cut off from the rest of the town after the landslide covered the lone road leading to the town proper.
Article continues after this advertisementShortly before 3 p.m., a composite team from the Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection, Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and Office of Civil Defense Bicol proceeded to the area to assist the landslide victims, said Daep.
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