Landslide forces 35 families to evacuate their homes in North Cotabato, Philippines

The local government unit of Arakan evacuated 35 peasant families away from a hilly district in the municipality where a landslide destroyed houses and crops Wednesday following two days of heavy rains.

Arakan Mayor Rene Rubino, chairman of the municipal disaster mitigation council, said five houses in Barangay Napaliko in the east of the municipality were buried in mud and rocks that cascaded from higher grounds, loosened by heavy rains two days before.

“Fortunately there were no reports of casualties,” Rubino said.

The office of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza has dispatched relief workers to Arakan to help the local government unit attend to the needs of the evacuees.

The provincial government had also delivered relief supplies to Arakan for distribution to the 35 families now housed in temporary relief sites at the town proper.