DAVAO CITY—A total of 48 families were forced to leave their homes following a landslide on Thursday night along Diversion Road in this city.
The landslide area was located at the exact place of an excavation project of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
City Social Services and Development Office head Maria Luisa Bermudo said that they immediately prepared the Los Amigos, Tugbok relocation area for the transfer of the affected families for their safety.
“This is a matter of safety, so we immediately assisted the affected families for their transfer to our relocation area in Los Amigos. We will be monitoring them every now and then to ensure their safety,” Bermudo said.
Bermudo added that the only request of the evacuees was to ensure that their children can still continue with their studies even if they are transferred to a relocation site.
“We also coordinated with the Department of Education so that we can temporarily transfer the kids to the nearby school. We have to understand that the relocation area is far from their current school so we have to accommodate their temporary transfer,” Bermudo said.
The landslide on Thursday night was the second incident in the past week, prompting the CSSDO to immediately enforce the evacuation of the affected families.
Engineer Joseph Dominic Felizarta, head of the City Engineers Office said that they are in close coordination with the DPWH to give assistance and to ensure that the same thing will not happen again.
“Since it is a project of the DPWH, all we can do is to give assistance. For now, our engineers are at the area to help the DPWH in assessing the situation,” Felizarta said.
He said that the CEO will assist the residents near the landslide area in transferring them to the relocation site.
Felizarta said that the entire stretch of C.P Gracia, Diversion Road will undergo a widening project by the DPWH.
Bermudo said that they will coordinate with CEO and other offices to assess if the 48 families have to be permanently transferred to the relocation site.