Rains Trigger Deadly Landslide in
Northern Mindanao
We have suffered many various landslide
specially those who live near at the
mountainous areas that greatly brought
destruction of structures and killed many
people. Just like in island of Leyte, when I
first read the article it melts my heart because
of the number of death and injured people
who were live in those mountain areas
The island of Leyte has also experienced a
number of recent deaths from disasters. In
April 2022, At least 21 persons have been
killed in Baybay City, Leyte due to landslides
induced by heavy downpour dumped by
Tropical Depression Agaton. The 21 bodies
retrieved, 14 were found at the landslide site
in Mailhi village, three in Kantagnos village,
two in Maypatag village, one in Bunga
village, and another one in Kan-ipa village.
Only two bodies have been identified so far
as responders braved heavy rains and
massive flooding to unearth more bodies
since Sunday. Most landslide incidents
occurred on Sunday when the state weather
bureau raised Tropical Cyclone Warning
Signal No. 2 in most parts of Leyte Island.
Also the tragedy in Guinsaugon seems the
latest example of the importance of
examining how these factors combine to
increase vulnerability. While days of heavy
rains loosened the soil there, the reduced
forest cover and fractured and weak
underlying bedrock could not sustain the
heavy load the rains produced. In addition,
population growth in Southern Leyte is rapid,
population density is high, and roughly one-
quarter of the families are poor placing
significant additional stress on the
environment and putting more people at risk
for disaster see table for forest cover and
population figures.
The Philippines’ government, on the other
hand, has been working to address the
population-environment nexus in Southern
Leyte by developing community driven
disaster reduction strategies there. Land has
been replanted to prevent soil erosion and
reduce landslides; water flow in irrigation
canals has been regulated to alleviate
flooding. The lesson here is that disaster
mitigation is not disaster elimination. Even
though measures such as those taken in
Southern Leyte generally help reduce loss of
life and property when disaster strikes,
vulnerabilities persist. While rapacious land
clearing had diminished, reforestation efforts
were not enough to shore up the effects of
years of logging.
Addressing specific disaster threats only
when they occur also often fails to address
other pressures that increase vulnerability to
disasters such as a lack of livelihood
opportunities that drive the poor to settle in
hazard-prone areas where they can cut trees
and sell wood, thus reducing forests and other
natural buffers. The Philippine government’s
Mines and Geosciences Bureau implemented
a geo-hazard mapping project that identified
the general area as vulnerable, but it wasn’t
detailed enough to indicate which specific
towns were in danger. People could have
been relocated, but many poor villagers in the
area fear losing their livelihoods and didn’t
have anywhere else to go.
Finally, attitudes about disasters pose a
significant challenge. Disaster preparedness
can create a false sense of control, at times
raising expectations without increasing local
capacity to address root causes of
vulnerability. Politics invariably enters into
the picture as bigger, politically contentious
issues that drive vulnerability are not
addressed such as the costs of relocating
people to more safe areas.
Recurrent disasters in both developing and
developed countries frequently destroy poor
quality housing; cause outbreaks of disease;
and create shortages of food, medicine, and
energy supplies, driving up prices of these
commodities. As the Guinsaugon story
highlights, the poor face limited choices in
terms of where to live and how to earn a
living. They may put themselves in harm’s
way—and when disaster strikes, they are
faced with a spiral of increasing vulnerability
involving human and property damage as
well as arrested economic development.
In order to reduce vulnerabilities, disaster
mitigation and preparedness must be
positioned within wider development
planning that is based on a better
understanding of the linkages between
ecosystems and human activities. The lessons
of Katrina and Guinsaugon are here today,
waiting for us to apply them.

Justin Sigmund R. Ped

11 St. Peter Stem (TIS)