Areas in mining town declared danger-zone

Areas in mining town declared danger zone 

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:15:00 07/16/2009

Filed Under: Mining and quarrying, Environmental Issues

BAGUIO CITY -- Government geologists have declared a section of the mining town of Mankayan in Benguet a danger zone to speed up the relocation of communities endangered by a June 5 landslide that has continued to eat through the town center.

Several buildings at the Mankayan High School grounds in Barangay (village)Aurora-Poblacion caved in on June 5 due to a slide that some geologists had predicted after a massive slide hit Barangay Colalo on July 26, 1999.

No one was hurt in the June 5 slide.

“The government has been waiting for this declaration,” said Samuel Paragas, Cordillera director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

The danger zone will cover 10 hectares, including areas surrounding the school.

The Mankayan danger zone is wide because it includes a sufficient buffer area to separate other populated areas from the endangered sites, said Paragas.

The MGB also declared as danger zone a village of Tinoc in Ifugao, which was threatened by floods when a May 22 landslide blocked the path of the Ibulao River.

Government geologists issued alerts as early as 1999 on the potential danger from a fault line and ground instability at the center of Mankayan, but there was no relocation done, Paragas said on Monday.

Earlier, Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan said it was up to the MGB to declare the area an “uninhabitable danger zone” before local officials could enforce relocation.

Paragas said the declaration has strong legal support because it was backed by existing geological surveys.

Mankayan hosts the mining operations of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. (LCMC), whose abandoned underground tunnels have been blamed for the landslides by militant groups and some town officials.

The slides have been studied since the 1950s and the early 1970s, according to MGB.

After the Colalo slide, an independent geological investigation by the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Geological Studies (UP-NIGS) requested access to the underground tunnels 180 meters below the town center to determine whether mine tunneling in the early part of the operations had created crevices that were now collapsing, said Felizardo Gacad, head of the mine engineering division of MGB Cordillera.

But entering the tunnels may be too dangerous and more expensive than relocating villagers, Gacad said.

Paragas said geologists conducted a final survey last week. They photographed a tree standing atop the danger zone on July 8. The tree collapsed in photographs they took on July 9, illustrating how dangerous the situation was, said Paragas.

Citing previous studies, MGB said mine operations may “not directly be connected” to the June 5 slide, “but the possibility could not be ruled out.” Desiree Caluza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090716-215626/Areas-in-mining-town-declared-danger-zone