Geologist Maria Elena Lupo gave this warning yesterday as curious onlookers gathered at the site in barangay Cambuang.
“There’s no way of knowing how big it will grow and when it will stop. It could suddenly collapse into an unexpected gap,” said Lupo, senior geologist of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (DENR-MGB-7).
When Cebu Daily News visited the area yesterday, the ground continued to move.
Curious onlookers gather outside a yellow police cordon at the site of the nrew sinkhole in Dumnajug town, southwestern Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Lupo, however, said the agency lacks the equipment to check the extent of “cavities” formed underground.
She said these empty gaps on the subsurfaceof the land are often found in volcanic or limestone areas.
A MGB team will visit the area on Monday.
She said local officials should act if they see the need to evacuate nearby houses.
Soil in limestone areas can easily weaken in water during heavy rains. Once the soil dissolves underground, it creates a gap that would eventually connect with other “cavities,” she said.
“When there are ground movements, it would create the sinkhole,” Lupo said.
She warned that the ground movement would continue and the sinkhole could expand.
Lupo said that the sinkhole could have been triggered by the 6.9 magnitude earthquake which hit Negros Oriental and Cebu last February 6.
She said geologists would need a geo-physical instrument that uses soundwaves to check which part of the ground is still solid but the machine is only available at the Water Resource Center of the University of San Carlos in Talamban.
On Monday, government geologists will gather information on the diameter of the sinkhold and map its depth.
DENR-MGB 7 previously observed the presence of sinkholes in 14 barangays in Cebu province. Eleven of these barangays are in Tuburan town in northwestern Cebu, 1 each in Argao town, Ronda town and in Dumanjug town. /By Candeze R. Mongaya, Reporter
Edgar
February 20, 2012
Is Cebu going to sink as manifested by various sinkholes around the island? Until this writing, Phivolcs recorded continuing earthquakes within Negros Oriental…
jover verano
February 22, 2012
hinde po kaya my something na object from the universe na bumagsak rito? kc kung titingnan mo ang sink hole yung lupa isa di nmn tlga nilamon lhat pansinin mo may mga form ng bitak paikot at yung lupa na nasa loob ay bumagsak nalng yun nung nasa loob na ang something na bagay na tumama dto. mas maganda kung huhukayin ito. baka may natabunan na bagay jan sa loob kc kung volcanic causes ito dpat malalim na ang nilamon na lupa… teory ko lamang po ito…