Landslide buries roadside shanties - kills nine in Commonwealth, Quezon City

A one month old baby and eight others are confirmed dead in a landslide that hit Bayanihan Street at Commonwealth in Quezon City. The landslide buried a row of shanties along a road which is home to a community of slum dwellers and squatters. Police and military personnel were on the scene to recover possible survivors.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources had issued warnings on the possibility of landslides earlier today..

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje on Tuesday warned of the possibility of landslides after heavy rainfall saturated the country's watersheds.

Paje, in a television interview, said the DENR has started monitoring geohazard zones after the southwest monsoon dropped more than 300 mm of rain in Metro Manila and in most parts of Luzon provinces.

Among these areas under tight watch by the DENR are parts of the Cordilleras, Cagayan, Bataan, Zambales and the National Capital Region (NCR).

The warning also includes "parts of Novaliches, Antipolo and barangays near the La Mesa Dam" which are deemed most at risk due to the nature of the soils in those areas.

[Photo courtesy Dennis Datu.]