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Catastrophe Report 8
August 8th to February 23rd 2006 |
Landslide - Philippines
| Territory: |
|
Philippines |
| Region: |
|
Southern Leyte |
| Date: |
|
17 February 2006 |
| Event: |
|
Landslide |
| Impact: |
|
This major landslide obliterated and almost entirely
buried the village of Guinsaugon. As of February 21st, the Philippines
National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) report 84 dead,
19 injured and 1,023 missing. 415 people are reported as surviving
the event, but with little hope for this number increasing,
the final death toll is likely to be more than a thousand. The
dead and missing include the majority of 200 staff and students
in the village school. |
| Summary: |
|
At 10am local time on February 17th, a major
landslide struck the village of Guinsaugon (population ~ 1,400),
close to the town of St. Bernard in Southern Leyte province.
A second landslide hit the area 12 hours later, resulting in
the evacuation of eleven neighbouring communities. Both slides
were sourced in hills overlooking the village, following extreme
precipitation that had dumped 200 cm rain on the region over
the preceding 10 days. A magnitude 2.6 earthquake that occurred
just before the first slide may have been the trigger that detached
the already weakened and water saturated mass. Heavy rains and
landslide activity are unusual at this time of year, and may
be a consequence of the prevailing La Niña conditions
in the Pacific. Deforestation, leading to increased surface
runoff and infiltration, has also been blamed, as has the replacement
of natural vegetation with coconut palms whose shallow roots
are less effective at binding the soil. The slide deposit is
around 4 m deep and covers an area of 3 km2. In addition to
burying Guinsaugon, the slide has also blocked tributaries of
a local river providing the potential for future flooding. |
| Data sources: |
|
ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm
The Manila Bulletin Online
http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006022256928.html
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| Additional sources:
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|
Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information
http://www.zki.caf.dlr.de/applications/2006/philippines/philippines_2006_en.html
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