CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga (PIA) – The provincial government has ordered the creation of a task force that will ensure the safety of residents living near Mount Arayat.
 
This, after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) reported landslides and intense ground vibrations starting September 25, following the onslaught of Typhoon Karding.
 
Governor Dennis Pineda said he instructed the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) to lead the multi-agency task force to save about 1,531 households in Purok 4,5,6 and 7 in Barangay San Juan Baño in Arayat town from the threat of landslide.
 
“We have created the task force, whose main task is to inspect and recommend immediate engineering interventions in order to mitigate the impacts of the threat. They will also conduct briefing at the barangay level so that when a warning signal is given, people in the area know what to do and where to evacuate,” he said.
 
With this, the governor appealed to the residents to cooperate and obey the authorities, especially when the warning to evacuate is already there.
 
Pineda said the two-hour lead time for evacuation by foot should be reduced to several minutes to ensure the safety of the threatened population.
 
“In a landslide situation, we are only talking about minutes. It is not like rain wherein we can wait for it to stop. Here, people need to learn to make an effort by themselves and with their family to evacuate on foot to find a safe space and safe distance. This is for your safety,” he stressed.
 
The governor also said engineering interventions like reenforcing the deflector dike built after Ondoy will be done after this year’s rainy seas
 
Aerial surveys by drones by the PDRRMC and Mines and Geosciences Bureau on September 27 and 28 and a trek by Barangay Captain Froilan Soriano confirmed the fresh landslides just below the summit, expanding the debris flow on Sapang Maeyagas Creek.
 
It was the same path of landslides triggered by Typhoons Ondoy in 2009, Santi in 2013, and Ulysses in 2020, according to MGB Central Luzon reports. (CLJD/MJSC-PIA 3)