Authorities said the landslide swept away three buses and a jeep carrying miners, and buried a village. Floods submerged the area last week, hampering rescue operations. Among the survivors identified in recent days is a 3-year-old girl.
USAID, in a statement on Monday, said it is providing 70 million Philippine pesos, or $1.25 million, in humanitarian assistance to communities affected by floods and landslides in Davao de Oro and surrounding provinces in Mindanao.
The miners in the buses and jeeps were employed by the Philippine company Apex Mining, which operates a gold mine in Macau. The company said in a statement on Saturday that it was assisting the government in relief and rescue operations.
“The company is deeply saddened by this tragedy and we can only imagine the pain the families of the missing and dead are experiencing,” said Luis Sarmiento, President and CEO of Apex Mining.
Environmental groups called for an independent investigation into the mining company's case. However, as of Saturday, government officials attributed the landslide primarily to heavy rainfall. The Bureau of Mines and Geosciences said the affected area was outside the mining site, although the company's transport vehicles were “temporarily stationed” there.
Landslides did occur there in 2007 and 2008, according to local officials, but residents eventually returned to be closer to work, believing the place was safe. About 21 people died in the latest landslide, Edward Makabele, executive assistant for communications in Davao de Oro, told The Washington Post.
“There is a policy that this is a no-construction zone,” Makabele told Telradio Serpicio radio station on Saturday. “After 2008, people returned to their homes and the previous administration of the Davao de Oro Provincial Government and Apex Mining Corporation itself tolerated it.”
The vulnerability of communities in risk-prone areas is a common issue in the Philippines, an archipelago that has been ravaged by various disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.
“People should not have been allowed to settle in that place, and there is no excuse for all those responsible for allowing this,” said Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the Resilience Institute at the University of the Philippines. Lagmai urged the government to follow international guidelines on risk assessment and risk mapping, not only to identify risk areas, but also to identify livable areas.
Heavy rains in the southern Philippines affected more than a million people last week, displacing hundreds of thousands, the US Embassy in Manila said.
