Leyte Landslide

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- The Leyte village buried by a landslide that killed about a thousand of its inhabitants remains hazardous two years after the tragedy, a geoscientist said here.

On Thursday, Filipino and foreign geoscientists participating in an international conference and workshop will climb Mt. Can-abag in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte, to take a look at the site of the tragic landslide that practically wiped out Barangay (village) Guinsaugon on February 17, 2006.

Dr. Sandra Catane of the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, who chairs the conference’s organizing committee, said the event is the first international landslide meet to be held in the Philippines.

"So far, what we have established is that the place (Guinsaugon area) is still hazardous," she said in a recent interview.

She stressed the need for more scientific studies of landslides, especially with more frequent rains blamed on global warming.

"We need to do something [to reduce the impact of landslides]," she added.

Catane said Filipino experts could learn more from participating scientists coming from countries with landslide warning systems.

A. Brian Hawkins, an engineering geologist from the United Kingdom, said the conference "is good because the local people are talking about local problems, not people from abroad."

Hawkins, who was among those who presented scientific studies, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) the gathering was well organized and that he was "very, very impressed."

Marian Trott, assistant editor of Bulletin of the International Association for Engineering Geology, said the conference provided them with an opportunity to share their ideas.

The participants included about a dozen experts coming from Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Nepal, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

The scientists, who will study both the source and impact areas at Guinsaugon, will present their findings and proposed plans of action at a workshop Friday.

The conference will integrate scientific findings into rehabilitation efforts for St. Bernard.

It would also incorporate the experts' understanding of the Guinsaugon landslide and develop a research plan for the identification of hazard hot spots, organizers explained.

The conference is organized by the University of the Philippines, the University of Waterloo in Canada and the St. Bernard government.