Fear stalks village after cracks appear on ground

PUPILS look at the land cracks with a depth of at least 2.13 meters which appeared after continuous rains in Barangay Cantuyoc in Jagna, Bohol. LEO UDTOHAN/ INQUIRER VISAYAS

BOHOL, Philippines—Residents in Barangay Cantuyoc in Jagna, Bohol province, are living in fear after cracks on the ground appeared following heavy rain that also triggered landslides.

The cracks affected the barangay road along Purok 1 in Sitio Taytay leading to the barangay proper of Cantuyoc, rendering it impassable to motorists and isolating a sitio.

According to Jagna-Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (MDRRM) office, the cracks had a length of more than 100 meters, a depth of at least 2.13 meters (7 feet) and at least 3-4 meters wide.

The cracks first appeared on Monday when the incessant rain started. It gradually widened to at least 3 meters.

Cantuyoc is an upland barangay at the northwest part of Jagna, about 6 kilometers from the town proper.

At least 12 families are living near the land cracks.

Catalina Galamiton, 45, said she could not sleep well since the cracks appeared on Monday.

“We are scared every time we sleep at night especially when it rained and the ground moved,” she said.

Bohol has been beset by aftershocks since the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol on Oct. 15, 2013 that killed at least 200 people.

Mary Anne Galamiton, 22, whose house is just a meter away from the cracks, said they had no electricity after the electric post of the Bohol Electric Cooperative 2 toppled down due to the cracks.

“I am scared because my house is quite near the cracks and there is no electricity. What if the cracks widened and our house would be swallowed with our family inside?” she added.

The MDRRM personnel had advised the residents to stay with the relatives living in other barangays especially at night as a precaution.

But Catalina said she and her family would move out once the cracks widened.

The Jagna-MDRRM had advised the residents to remain vigilant and report presence of new cracks, said action officer Adonis John Cagas.

Last month, two days of heavy rain set off floods and landslides that affected the seven barangays in Jagna. At least P5.45 million worth of agricultural products and infrastructure were destroyed in the floods.