CEBU CITY — While the rain on Monday night provided relief to the parched land in the city, it triggered a landslide that claimed the life of a three-year-old boy.
Jacob Basak was already dead when brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) along B. Rodriguez Street here past 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
His mother, Mitos, 30, and older brother, Ian Vanlor, 11, were still confined in separate hospitals in Cebu City.
Councilor Dave Tumulak, head of the city’s command center, said it rained in Sitio Sun-ok, Barangay (village) Lahug, on Monday night, which might have softened the hillside where the family had extracted anapog (limestone).
The Basak family lives in a shanty built on an elevated portion of Sitio Sun-ok, close to where they dig the anapog that they sell as source of livelihood.
About 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Mitos and her two boys decided to take shelter from the sweltering heat at the site where they had extracted the limestone.
But the hillside caved in, burying the three in soil, said Tumulak.
He said Mitos’ husband and some neighbors helped in rescuing his wife and two sons. The two boys were loaded onto separate motorcycles. Ian was brought to the Perpetual Succor hospital and Jacob was brought to the VSMMC. Responding medics brought Mitos to VSMMC.
Tumulak said he already sent safety officers to the area to assess if the whole Basak family should be moved out of the area. SFM