Sunday, January 2, 2011

Landslide Hit St. Bernard, Southern Leyte



I was just admiring the very fine weather here in Manila this afternoon. When I called my mother in Anahawan, Southern Leyte I learned that they have been experiencing heavy rains, "bunok-bunok jud" as she described it. I was not giving it much thought until I overheard on TV earlier this evening the words "St. Bernard", "Guinsaugon"', and the feared "landslide". At first I thought that it was just GMA7's review of past events as many TV stations would do during new year seasons. When my wife said that it was a flash news, I decided to check google to get some details.

At the same time, I also checked out on my sister who just traveled from Anahawan to Ormoc earlier today. Vehicles have to slow down due to reduced visibility as caused by the heavy rains.

Here are the headlines from google results:
  • Inquirer.Net: 2 kids die in Southern Leyte floods; state of calamity declared - posted at 5:28 PM.
  • ABS-CBN: 2 children missing in Southern Leyte Landslide - posted at 9:27 PM.
  • Bombo Radyo: Bayan sa S. Leyte, sa state of calamity; 2 patay - posted at 9:15 PM.

Based on these news, 2 kids are believed dead when their respective houses were buried by the landslide caused by the heavy rains. The town-proper of St. Bernard has also been flooded up to knee-deep. Worst-hit areas are villages called Tambis I and Tambis II. Affected residents have been relocated to New Guinsaugon - the relocation site for the survivors of the Guinsaugon landslide in 2006.

It has also been reported that other landslides have also occurred in other areas of Eastern Visayas.

Here are the links to the full news articles: