300 villagers flee homes as cracks show on mountain slopes

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines—Some 300 people left their homes in Barangay Kinawayan in Arakan, North Cotabato, on Thursday for fear of landslides after cracks developed on the  mountain slopes nearby following heavy rains, official said.

Dalines Atupan, Kinawayan village chief, said the cracks measured at least 15 to 17 meters wide and more or less 10 feet deep. The cracks, he said, covered a wide area of the slopes.

Atupan said a team from the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau  had inspected the cracks and advised an evacuation due to possible landslides. The residents heeded the warning and are now staying in a government building about a kilometer away from the village, he said.

Atupan said the MGB also declared Barangay Kinawayan a landslide-prone area.

He said he had started consulting town officials on what course of action to take in the wake of the MGB findings.