2006 Southern Leyte mudslide

Last updated

2006 Southern Leyte mudslide
Southern Leyte mudslide 2006 pic01.jpg
View of the Southern Leyte rockslide-debris avalanche toe
DateFebruary 17, 2006 (2006-02-17)
Time10:30 UTC+08:00
LocationGuinsaugon, Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte, Philippines
Coordinates 10°20′15″N125°05′51″E / 10.33750°N 125.09750°E / 10.33750; 125.09750
Deaths1,126
View of the Southern Leyte rockslide-debris avalanche body from the landslide crown. Distance to the toe is approximately 4 km. Southern Leyte mudslide 2006 pic02.jpg
View of the Southern Leyte rockslide-debris avalanche body from the landslide crown. Distance to the toe is approximately 4 km.
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite with this view of the landslide that buried a town. 06 Southern Leyte mudslide.jpg
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite with this view of the landslide that buried a town.

On February 17, 2006, a massive rock slide-debris avalanche occurred in the Philippine province of Southern Leyte, causing widespread damage and loss of life. The deadly landslide (or debris flow) followed a 10-day period of heavy rain and a minor earthquake (magnitude 2.6 on the Richter scale). The official death toll was 1,126. [1]

Contents

Overview

At around 10:30 on February 17, 2006, a cliff face of a ridge straddling the Philippine Fault collapsed in a combination rockslide-debris mass movement event, translocating and subsequently burying Guinsaugon village in the township of Saint Bernard. [2] Up to ten smaller landslides had occurred within the previous week in the vicinity of St. Bernard, but Guinsaugon was the worst-hit community.[ citation needed ]

Among the worst of the tragedies was the burial of the local elementary school, located nearest to the mountain ridge, as the landslide occurred when school was in session and full of children. Provincial Governor Rosette Lerias said at the time the school had 246 students and seven teachers; only a child and an adult were rescued immediately after the disaster transpired. About 80 women who participated in the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Guinsaugon Women's Health Association were also lost in the landslide. [3]

Lerias said that although several residents had left the area the week before due to the fear of landslides, several of them had returned when the rains had eased.[ citation needed ]

Rescue and relief

Rescue teams including military personnel proceeded to the affected areas.[ citation needed ] However, relief efforts were hampered by rain, chest-deep mud, roads blocked by boulders, washed-out bridges, and lack of heavy equipment.[ citation needed ] A minor earthquake in the morning of February 17 also affected the relief operation as the ground remained unstable.[ citation needed ]

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave an address on television stating that "help is on the way". Navy and coast guard ships were dispatched to the coastal area. [4]

On February 17, Philippine National Red Cross chairman Richard J. Gordon who was then in Geneva, Switzerland, attending a board meeting of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement appealed for international assistance. He raised US$1.5 million to help the victims of the mudslides. The funds were used to purchase tents, blankets, cooking utensils, mosquito nets, temporary shelter materials, hygiene articles, water purification tablets and medicines. US$152,000 was released to provide initial assistance. A relief plane was flown into the region carrying emergency trauma kits, rubber boots, ropes, clothing, flashlights and medicine. Three Philippines National Red Cross teams with search and rescue dogs were at the site to provide assistance, with others joining soon afterward. [5] The Red Cross said that it feared that the death toll would be high. [4]

The United States sent three naval vessels, the USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Essex, and USS Harpers Ferry with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, to the area to provide assistance. [6]

About 6,000 U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops were in the Philippines for an annual bilateral exercise. [7] The US government also donated $100,000 worth of disaster equipment to the Philippine National Red Cross. USAID turned over 29 million pesos (about $560,000) worth of food and non-food items. [8]

Other countries donated or pledged assistance to the Philippine government.[ citation needed ] China offered a donation of $1 million in cash and material.[ citation needed ] Australia also offered AU$1 million ($740,000) in immediate relief.[ citation needed ] Taiwan pledged enough medicine to treat 3,000 people for a month and a half along with $100,000.[ citation needed ] Thailand also pledged $1 million.[ citation needed ] Malaysia sent a 60-man search-and-rescue and medical assistance team, the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance Team (SMART).[ citation needed ] Spain, through a non-government organization, the Unidad Canina de Rescate y Salvamento, sent a six-man rescue team equipped with five sniffer dogs to aid in the relief and rescue efforts. [8] South Korea promised $1 million. New Zealand sent $133,000 to be used in future rescue operations. Singapore said, according to a statement from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, that officials would help the Arroyo administration in any way possible. Indonesia and Turkey offered humanitarian contingents as well.

The Philippine National Red Cross reported that 53 persons were rescued from the mud on February 17, but the rescue efforts had to be suspended at nightfall for safety reasons. [7]

Possible causes

Congressman Roger Mercado of Southern Leyte claimed in a Reuters interview that logging and mining done in the area three decades ago was the main culprit. [9] Dave Petley, professor at the International Landslide Centre, Durham University, told the BBC that the causes Mercado mentioned, if proven true, created a "dangerous combination" that produced a "classic landslide scenario". [10]

However, local government officials and eyewitnesses claimed anecdotally that the area was "well forested" and the governor's office said that deforestation from mining and logging activities were not the causal factor, although no scientific evidence was presented to back the claims. The governor’s office did not explain why the soil was so unstable at the time of the slide, after millennia of stability. [10]

Experts did agree that torrential rains lasting two weeks before the mudslide were the tipping point that precipitated the disaster. Rainfall amounting to nearly 1,200 millimetres (47 in) over the period of February 4–14 [11] loosened the soil so much that the resulting sludge and rocks thundered down the slopes of nearby Mount Can-abag, virtually disintegrating it. The La Niña weather phenomenon was blamed for the non-stop rains that occurred in the province. [10] San Francisco, Agusan del Sur mayor Carie Ladernora declared the state of calamity on her town by February 12, 2006. [12]

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded a magnitude 2.6 earthquake in Southern Leyte just prior to the landslide although the effects of this are unclear. [10]

2008 workshop

After two years, the international geoscience community including experts from Japan, Canada, United States, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Hong Kong, UK, Taiwan and the Philippines, came together in Tacloban and St. Bernard to examine known information on the Guinsaugon disaster. In addition, the workshop was tasked with determining the next steps after the disaster. The landslide is classified as a rock slide-debris avalanche using the Varnes (1978) [13] or Cruden and Varnes (1996) [14] classification. Volume estimates in recent publications range between 14 MCM (million cubic metres) and 20 MCM, converging on or about 15 MCM. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] There is general accord among scientists that high precipitation a week prior to the failure contributed to the conditions at failure, but the 5 day delay between the rain and the landslide, and the fact that Southern Leyte regularly gets high overall levels of precipitation means that the precise nature of that contribution is unknown. Similarly, the role of minor ground shaking that occurred at about the same time is still uncertain. "Was the landslide caused by ground shaking or excessive rain? This is one of the things that is not yet resolved." said Dr. Mark Albert Zarco, a professor at the Department of Engineering Sciences, University of the Philippines Diliman in a news story. Importantly, the geological and geomorphological history of the slope including, for example, the prominent strike-slip movement of about 2.5 cm per year, has ultimately lead to failures all along the scarp, including the one that buried Guinsaugon. Richard Guthrie, of University of Waterloo, Canada, stated: "We have had very large rains and we have had very large earthquakes in the past; The rocks have been stretched and strained. As time moves on, the rock begins to age and die and finally it collapses. The important thing is that we’re able to know the preconditioning of the slopes." [20] Scientists built a synthesis paper on the landslide and a set of recommendations regarding the next steps for the Philippines in relation to landslide hazards.[ citation needed ]

May 2006 mudslide

Due to Typhoon Chanchu (Philippine name: Caloy), flash floods and mudslides isolated at least 11 barangays in Sogod, Southern Leyte. No casualties were reported. [21]

Footage taken during helicopter rescues after the mudslide was featured in an episode of the American reality television series, World's Most Amazing Videos .[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landslide</span> Natural hazard involving ground movement

Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients, from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs or even underwater, in which case they are called submarine landslides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Leyte</span> Province in Eastern Visayas, Philippines

Southern Leyte, officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Maasin. Southern Leyte comprised the third congressional district Leyte until it was made into an independent province in 1959. Southern Leyte includes Limasawa, an island to the south where the first Roman Catholic Mass in Philippine soil is believed to have taken place and thus considered to be the birthplace of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte</span> Municipality in Southern Leyte, Philippines

Saint Bernard, officially the Municipality of Saint Bernard, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,414 people.

The Philippine Presidential Unit citation Badge is a unit decoration of the Republic of the Philippines. It has been awarded to certain units of the United States military and the Philippine Commonwealth military for actions both during and subsequent to the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical Storm Thelma</span> Pacific tropical storm in 1991

Tropical Storm Thelma, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Uring, was one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in Philippine history, killing at least 5,081 people. Forming out of a tropical disturbance on November 1, 1991, several hundred kilometers north-northeast of Palau, the depression that would become Thelma tracked generally westward. After turning southwestward in response to a cold front, the system intensified into a tropical storm on November 4 as it approached the Philippines. Hours before moving over the Visayas, Thelma attained its peak intensity with estimated ten-minute sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and a barometric pressure of 992 mbar. Despite moving over land, the system weakened only slightly, emerging over the South China Sea on November 6 while retaining gale-force winds. Thelma ultimately succumbed to wind shear and degraded to a tropical depression. On November 8, the depression made landfall in Southern Vietnam before dissipating hours later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VMM-262</span> Military unit

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (VMM-262) is a United States Marine Corps tiltrotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The squadron, known as the "Flying Tigers", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 36 (MAG-36) and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">31st Marine Expeditionary Unit</span> US Marine Corps unit

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 Marines and sailors. The 31st MEU consists of a company-sized command element, a battalion landing team (BLT),, a medium tiltrotor squadron (reinforced),, and a combat logistics battalion. The 31st MEU is based at Camp Hansen, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler, Okinawa, Japan. The 31st MEU is the only permanently forward-deployed MEU, and provides a flexible and lethal force ready to perform a wide range of military, humanitarian, and diplomatic operations as the premier crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typhoon Xangsane</span> Pacific typhoon in 2006

Typhoon Xangsane, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Milenyo, was a typhoon that affected the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand during the 2006 Pacific typhoon season. The name Xangsane was submitted by Laos and means elephant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typhoon Durian</span> Pacific typhoon in 2006

Typhoon Durian, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Reming, was a deadly tropical cyclone that wreaked havoc in the Philippines and later crossed the Malay Peninsula in late November 2006, causing massive loss of life when mudflows from the Mayon Volcano buried many villages.

There have been known various classifications of landslides. Broad definitions include forms of mass movement that narrower definitions exclude. For example, the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology distinguishes the following types of landslides:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combat Logistics Battalion 31</span> Military unit

Combat Logistics Battalion 31 (CLB-31) is a logistics battalion of the United States Marine Corps. CLB-31 is the Logistics Combat Element (LCE) of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, the only continuously forward-deployed MEU in the Marine Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typhoon Bopha</span> Pacific typhoon in 2012

Typhoon Bopha, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Pablo, was the strongest tropical cyclone on record to ever affect the Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 175 mph (282 km/h). The twenty-fourth tropical storm, along with being the fourth and final super typhoon of the 2012 Pacific typhoon season, Bopha originated unusually close to the equator, becoming the second-most southerly Category 5 super typhoon, reaching a minimum latitude of 7.4°N on December 3, 2012, as only Typhoon Louise of 1964 came closer to the equator at this strength, at 7.3°N. After first making landfall in Palau, where it destroyed houses, disrupted communications and caused power outages, flooding and uprooted trees, Bopha made landfall late on December 3 in Mindanao. The storm caused widespread destruction on Mindanao, leaving thousands of people homeless and killing 1,901 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typhoon Cimaron (2006)</span> Pacific typhoon in 2006

Typhoon Cimaron, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Paeng, was the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the Philippine island of Luzon since Typhoon Zeb in 1998. Originating from a tropical depression on October 25, Cimaron developed within an environment strongly favoring tropical cyclogenesis east of the Philippines. On October 28, the system underwent rapid intensification, culminating in attaining its peak strength with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). Estimates from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center ranked the system as a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon with one-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), though this is argued to have underrepresented the typhoon's strength. The system moved ashore near Casiguran, Aurora in northern Luzon at peak strength. Crossing the island, Cimaron emerged over the South China Sea where conditions allowed for temporary reorganization. After becoming nearly stationary on November 1, the typhoon executed a tight anti-cyclonic loop and rapidly weakened. The storm degenerated into a tropical depression on November 4, before dissipating three days later off the coast of Vietnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typhoon Haiyan</span> Pacific typhoon in 2013

Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the deadliest Philippine typhoons on record, killing at least 6,300 people in that country alone. In terms of JTWC-estimated 1-minute sustained winds, Haiyan is tied with Meranti in 2016 for being the second strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record, only behind Goni of 2020. As of January 2014, bodies were still being found. Haiyan was also the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian response to Typhoon Haiyan</span>

In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines received numerous messages of condolence and offers of assistance from a range of international leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahar Lagmay</span> Fillipino geologist

Alfredo Mahar Francisco Amante Lagmay is a Filipino geologist. He is executive director of Project NOAH and a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SMART (Malaysia)</span> Malaysian disaster relief and rescue task force

The Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team or internationally known as SMART, is a disaster relief and rescue task force established under the National Security Council based on the approval of the Cabinet on 18 May 1994. The SMART task force is a United Nations INSARAG certified Heavy USAR in June 2016.

The 2017 Sri Lanka floods resulted from a heavy southwest monsoon, beginning around 18 to 19 May 2017. Flooding was worsened by the arrival of the precursor system to Cyclone Mora, causing flooding and landslides throughout Sri Lanka during the final week of May 2017. The floods affected 15 districts, killed at least 208 people and left a further 78 people missing. As of 3 June, 698,289 people were affected, while 11,056 houses were partially damaged and another 2,093 houses completely destroyed. According to Al Jazeera, about 600,000 people have been displaced due to the floods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Sierra Leone mudslides</span> Mudslide disaster in Freetown, Sierra Leone

On the morning of August 14, 2017, significant mudflow events occurred in and around the capital city of Freetown in Sierra Leone. Following three days of torrential rainfall, mass wasting of mud and debris damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings in the city, killing 1,141 people and leaving more than 3,000 homeless.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Philippine Landslide and Flood Operations Update #7" Archived August 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , red, Red Cross, Appeal #MDRPH00107, update August 7, 31, 2007
  2. ↑ "Disaster Relief: Too Late, Earth Scans Reveal the Power of a Killer Landslide", Science Magazine, March 31, 2006
  3. ↑ "80 Abanse! Pinay members still missing in Guinsaugon" Archived August 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 22, 2006
  4. 1 2 "Hundreds feared dead in Philippine mudslide", Reuters, February 17, 2006
  5. ↑ "Red Cross seeks $1.5 mln for Philippine mudslide", Reuters, February 17, 2006
  6. ↑ "USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Curtis Wilbur Arrive on Station to Help Philippine Mudslide Victims"
  7. 1 2 No Signs of Life' after Huge Mudslide hits Philippines Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , Pakistan Times
  8. 1 2 Landslide triggers avalanche of international aid, The Inquirer, February 19, 2006
  9. ↑ Hundreds feared dead in Philippine mudslide [ dead link ], Reuters, February 17, 2006
  10. 1 2 3 4 "What caused Philippines landslide?", BBC, February 17, 2006
  11. ↑ Lagmay, Alfredo Mahar A; Ong, John Burtkenley T; Fernandez, Dan Ferdinand D; et al. (2006). "Scientists investigate recent Philippine landslide". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 87 (12): 121. Bibcode:2006EOSTr..87..121L. doi: 10.1029/2006EO120001 .
  12. ↑ "Leyte Mudslide: CDRC Report on St. Bernard". Citizens' Disaster Response Center. Archived from the original (Microsoft Word) on February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  13. ↑ Varnes D. J.: Slope movement types and processes. In: Schuster R. L. & Krizek R. J. Ed., Landslides, analysis and control. Transportation Research Board Sp. Rep. No. 176, Nat. Acad. oi Sciences, pp. 11–33, 1978.
  14. ↑ Cruden D.M., VARNES D. J. (1996) – Landslide types and processes. In: Turner A.K.; Shuster R.L. (eds) Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation. Transp Res Board, Spec Rep 247, pp 36–75.
  15. ↑ Catane, Sandra G.; Cabria, Hillel B.; Zarco, Mark Albert H.; Saturay, Ricarido M.; Mirasol-Robert, Aileen A. (2008). "The 17 February 2006 Guinsaugon rock slide-debris avalanche, Southern Leyte, Philippines: deposit characteristics and failure mechanism". Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment. 67 (3): 305. doi:10.1007/s10064-008-0120-y. S2CID   128915964.
  16. ↑ Catane,S.G., Cabria, H.B., Tomarong, C.P., Saturay, R.M., Zarco, M.A.H. and Pioquinto, W.C. 2007. Catastrophic rockslide-debris avalanche at St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, Philippines. Landslides, 4.
  17. ↑ Evans, S.G., Guthrie, R.H., Roberts, N.J., and Bishop, N.F. 2007. The disastrous February 17, 2006, rockslide-debris avalanche on Leyte Island, Philippines: a catastrophic landslide in tropical mountain terrain. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 7, 89 – 101.
  18. ↑ Orense, R.P. and Sapuay, S.E. 2006. Preliminary report on February 17, 2006, Leyte Philippines landslide. Soils and Foundations, 45, 685–693.
  19. ↑ Makino, M., Mandanas, A.A. and Catane, S.G. 2007. Gravity basement of the Guinsaugon landslide along the Philippine Fault Zone. Earth Planets Space, 59, 1067 – 1071.
  20. ↑ www.gmanews.tv, Scientists clueless on cause of Southern Leyte landslide
  21. ↑ Storm triggers landslides; thousands stranded, INQ7.net, May 12, 2006

Sources

  • A.M.F. Lagmay, J. B. T. Ong, D.F.D. Fernandez, M. R. Lapus, R. S. Rodolfo, A. M. P. Tengonciang, J.L.A. Soria, E. G. Baliatan, Z. L. Quimba, C. L. Uichanco, E. M. R. Paguican, A. R. C. Remedio, G.R.H. Lorenzo, W. Valdivia, and F. B. Avila (2006) "Scientists investigate recent Philippine Landslide". EOS vol 87 no. 12, pp. 121–124.
  • Lagmay, A.M.F., Raymond S. Rodolfo, Arlene Mae P. Tengonciang, Janneli Lea T. Soria, John Burtkenley T. Ong, Dan Ferdinand D. Fernandez, Mark R.Lapus, Eden G. Baliatan, Zareth P. Quimba, Christopher L. Uichanco, Engielle R. Paguican (2008) "Science guides search and rescue after the 2006 Philippine landslide" Journal of Disasters. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2008.01047.x vol.32(3): 416–33.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.