ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 11, 2008) – Monsoon rains triggered flash floods on Thursday on a remote village in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.
An earthquake also jolted Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao on Thursday morning, although there were no reports of damages to structures. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the tremor originated from Indonesia and felt in Mindanao.
But officials said the rampaging flood waters in Bunguiao trapped villagers. There have been no reports of injuries or casualties, however, seven houses were already under water and that roads are impassable, said Nestor Atilano, the village chieftain.
“The flood water is rising and roads have become impassable. The flash flood was triggered by days of continuous rains,” Atilano said.
It was not immediately known how many families were displaced by the flood.
Geologists also discovered a huge crack on the village of Tulungatung also in Zamboanga City and warned residents to stay away from the area because of possible landslide.
The Mine and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources immediately declared the area around it as “prohibited zone.”
Villagers near the crack had been evacuated to safer areas and geologists were conducting further studies on the fissure. Residents have reported strange noise every time rain waters sip through the crack.
In July, a portion of the Zamboanga City highway collapsed and geologists blamed weeks of torrential rains that eroded the soil and led to the collapse of the road. A landslide in June in Zamboanga City also killed a pregnant mother and her child in the hillside village of Maasin during the typhoon Fengshen.
Last week, at least two dozen people were buried alive after two landslides struck the mountain town of Maco in Compostela Valley province. (Mindanao Examiner)
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