BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The return of 10 families to their respective houses in Purok Tindalo, Barangay 1, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental remains uncertain.
They were forced to flee their homes over the weekend after a portion of a retaining wall along the Palampas River showed signs of a potential collapse.
Joe Alingasa Jr., head of the San Carlos City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said yesterday morning that the City Engineer’s Office is still determining the cause of the large cracks in the retaining wall.
Alingasa pointed out it is still not safe for the families, composed of 58 individuals, to return to their homes.
The CDRRMO head said San Carlos City mayor Renato Gustilo ordered that all affected families be temporarily housed at the city’s evacuation center so they can easily receive assistance from the city government.
Personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are also investigating the cracks alongside the City Engineer’s Office.
Alingasa also confirmed that the CDRRMO risk assessment team determined that 10 adjacent houses were also found to have cracks on their floors, and one had already sunk.
He said it is possible that portions beneath the said houses were hollow and water had seeped in causing the cracks and ground fissures. Authorities are continuing their probe, he added./PN
