A Case Study for the course Geology for Engineers

Submitted by:
Flores, Ma. Aljean Ashley C.
Gutierrez, Clark Matthew M.

Engr. Ace Dhenniel V. Daria

Instructor
 KARST SUBSIDENCE IN NAGA CITY

Naga City is a municipality and considered as one of the oldest communities in the

Province of Cebu. In the early days, farming and fishing villages caused a stir because of the

arrival of the Spaniards and for scouting the upland barangays as mining coals. Coal then became

the first export product of the town aside from cement product. The mining industry became the

success of industrial development of Naga City. (Official Website of the City Government of

Naga, n.d.).

Many manufacturing companies came to Naga City and one of them is ALQC (Apo Land

and Quarry Corporation) located in Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Tinaan.

On August 29, 2018 (3 weeks before the landslide), the City Mayor Kristine Chiong

received a letter informing that the crack and fissures in limestones within ALQC (1 km away

from Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan) do not pose a threat to the community. Earlier to the said

date, the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council submitted an incident report

about the cracks and fissures in parts of Sitio Tagaytay and Sitio Sindulan. The mayor issued an

immediate cease and desist order to stop the quarrying activities. Due to the absence of geologist

in their local government, the mayor asked MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) to hold a joint

inspection together with some barangay officials and some members of ALQC, the investigation

led to a technical report. The report found that the fissures were a “natural phenomenon” and not

related to the mining operations. MGB Regional Director Loreto Alburo and Chiong allowed the

resumption of ALQC’s operations on September 5 by following some conditions (Tizon M.G.,

2018).
 September 11, ALQC reported the increase of cracks on facility’s Main Tower-North.

The previously 3 mm crack on August 31 became a 35mm crack on September 11. The mayor

then wrote to DENR to further evaluate the site. In the evening of September 19, a representative

of ALQC, the local government and people from ALQC went door-to-door and discussed the

evacuation and relocation plan. Landslide struck the next day, September 20 at 6:00 AM (Tizon

M.G., 2018).

Due to the unpredicted large landslide volume and unusually long-runout, which

surprised villagers at the landslide toe (Figure 1), it killed 78 villagers and injured 18 while six

people are missing and are presumed dead. According to NDRRMC, a total of 1,972 families /

8,252 persons were affected in 5 barangays in Naga City, and a total of 1,667 families / 6,913

persons were evacuated. And a total of 57 houses were totally damaged (2018, file no.16, p.1).
 Figure 1. Part of Naga City that was affected by the landslide. (Frontiers, 2020)
Lagmay, MGB, Catane et al. (as cited in Cuaresma, Escape, Suarez et al., 2020) noted

that “a landslide mass that initially moved as one intact block with no significant backward

regression. The landslide lasted for a minute and traveled with a maximum velocity of 72 km/h.

Fractures observed a month prior to the catastrophe.” Said that the sliding block already moved

prior to the event. (Figure 2)

Figure 2. Before and during the landslide, photo taken from SunStar Philippines (source BJMP-Naga, 2018)

The Naga City landslide was classified as a rockslide-debris avalanche because of the the

morphological attributes of the deposit field, the extended runout, the absence of debris flow

deposits, and the initial slide movement of rock units. As it has been suggested “the distinction

between rock avalanches and debris avalanches is gradational and subjective especially because

there is a certain difficulty in separating welded materials (rock) from uncemented granular

deposits (debris).” The Carcar and Barili formations, which made up the collapsed Naga

landslide material, are mostly uncemented, soft to semi-hard, and can collapse. (Hungr et al.,

2001) (Cuaresma, Escape, Suarez et al., 2020).

 Based on further investigations of geologists from MGB, the soil on the mountain of

Barangay Tinaan, Naga, did not merely erode, but entirely crush or sank. "This was a rare

landslide." In a news briefing at Naga City Hall on Monday, MGB head geologist Liza Manzano

said, "It was unusual." She attributed the occurrence to four factors: soil characteristics, prior

earthquakes, climate, and human activity. While environmental causes were the primary cause of

the avalanche, Manzano said that quarry operations in the mountains of Barangay Tinaan also

contributed to the disaster. "Any action that alters the mountain's landscape, including quarry

operations, contributes to the incident," she explained.

Manzano (2018) added, that Naga City’s landscape is mostly karst terrain with many

underground caves and sinkhole. According to her, what happened on September 20 was

actually a karst subsidence that was followed by a landslide or a planar block slide, making it a

“complex mass movement.” “Subsidence in karst is one of the most dangerous geohazards due to

its extreme unpredictability,” she said. Earthquakes are one of the causes of karst subsidence,

which she identified as the main "culprit" of the tragic event. In the past, strong earthquakes and

frequent seismic activity began to shift the subsurface flow of underground water, causing the

karst terrain to weaken. Low-magnitude earthquakes were common in 2017 and 2018, with

epicenters reported in Naga City and nearby towns such as Asturias, Toledo, and Balamban. She

further said that the most notable was the North Bohol Fault movement, which caused a 7.2

magnitude earthquake in central Cebu in October 2013 (Figure 3), with Naga City experiencing

Intensity 7. Naga City is located on the island of Bohol (Philstar, 2018).

Figure 3. A magnitude reading of Bohol’s earthquake in 2013 and the mapping of faults both in Cebu and Bohol at

the left side.

In conclusion, MGB of the Department of Natural Environment Resources (as cited in

UNTV Resource and Rescue, 2018) said that natural phenomenon and a man-made action have

caused the deadly landslide that hit the Tinaan village in the city of Naga.
References:

BJMP-NAGA (2018). CCTV Video Captures Naga City Landslide. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXV7nJR26_8

Catane, S., Veracruz, N., Flora, J., Go, C., Enrera, R., and Santos, E. (2019). Mechanism of a
low-angle translational block slide: evidence from the September 2018 Naga landslide,
Philippines. Landslides 16, 1709–1719. doi: 10.1007/s10346-019-01212-9 Retrieved
from net https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00312/full#SM1

CDRRMO of Naga City Cebu. (2018). Naga City (2018) Local Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Plan 2018-2022 City of Naga, Cebu. Technical report. Retrieved from net
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00312/full#SM1

Hungr, O., Evans, S., and Hutchinson, I. (2001). A review of the classification of landslides of
the flow type. Environ. Eng. Geosci. 7, 221–238. doi: 10.2113/gseegeosci.7.3.221

Lagmay, A. (2018). Assessment of the Tinaan, Naga City, Cebu Landslide and Preparation of
Geohazard Assessment after the Landslide Disaster. Technical report, Geosciences
Foundation Incorporated. Retrieved from net https://www.frontiersin.org/
/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00312/full#SM1

MGB (2018). Geological Investigation/Assessment Re: Cracks/Fissures in Limestones within

Apo Land and Quarry Corporation (ALQC) Tenement in Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay
Tina-an, Naga City, Cebu. Technical report, Mines and Geosciences Bureau - Region 7.
Retrieved from net
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00312/full#SM1

https://cityofnagacebu.gov.ph/about-naga/

https://www.rappler.com/nation/212549-naga-cebu-landslide-authorities-signs-danger/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00312/full#SM1

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/200293/killer-landslide-in-naga-unique-mgb
https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2018/10/23/1862475/natural-hazards-seen-

naga-city

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXV7nJR26_8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawO-nY4uZcs