「日刊まにら新聞」ウェブ

Hundreds of families were evacuated due to a landslide at a mining site in Surigao del Norte on Saturday, a local government official said Tuesday.

In a radio interview, Surigao del Norte Public Information Office Chief Janis Medina said no one was hurt or reported missing.

"Right now, we have 239 families or 822 individuals affected by the landslide. Some went to their relatives while other residents were being served within the four evacuation centers in the municipality of Maiinit," she said.

"This is the community living near the mining site... What happened in the afternoon (of Saturday) there was an earthquake prior to the landslide, then during the quake the road near the embankment sustained cracks, so the people were evacuated," she added.

Medina explained that not all the houses in the community were damaged but all of the residents were evacuated to ensure their safety after the embankment of the tailing storage facility of the mining site collapsed causing the incident.

"Not all of their houses were damaged but the mining company and the local government decided to evacuate all of them until they assess the safety of the situation," she said.

"The area that collapsed was the old tailing facility operated by the previous mining company around 1990's when it was shut down, but it was raining in the past few days that is why the embankment collapsed," she added.

Medina said the mining company has voluntarily suspended the mining operation to ensure the safety of the area.

"The mining company, upon discussion with the (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) MGB, voluntarily suspended their operation, right now there is still an ongoing assessment on the safety and stability of the area because there are still some seismic activities detected until now," she said.

Medina confirmed that as of Tuesday morning the residents were not yet allowed to return to their houses while the mining company vows to rebuild the houses damaged by the landslide. Robina Asido/DMS