Mayor Isidro Zayco said yesterday that he has requested a thorough study on the sinkhole that suddenly appeared in Barangay Oringao, Kabankalan City, to ensure that no other aberrations occur that could endanger residents in the area.

Five residents of Barangay Oringao fell into the sinkhole that opened at a basketball court in the evening of June 26, but, fortunately were unharmed, he said.

The Kabankalan mayor said the sinkhole area has been cordoned off and Mines and Geosciences Bureau officials whose help he had sought, have been to the area to assess the situation.

MGB 6 Regional Director Leo Van Juguan told the DAILY STAR he has recommended that help from the UP National Institute of Geosciences be sought to study what caused the sinkhole and to determine if others could surface in other areas of the barangay.

Zayco said he has asked Juguan to do what is needed to ensure the safety of residents, but assured that the sinkhole in the barangay was not posing immediate danger to the people.

Juguan said he and Dr. Lelanie Suerte, MGB senior geologist, made an ocular inspection of the sinkhole on June 28.

The sinkhole is funnel-shaped (“imbudo” in the local dialect) and measures about 3.5 meters in diameter and 3 meters in depth, with an opening of around 1.7 meters, Suerte said.

An MGB report said that Oringao resident Jose Gellang disclosed that five victims were strolling in the basketball court of the barangay mini-plaza at around 9 p.m. of June 26 when suddenly they fell into the sinkhole.

Gellang said the victims were found unconscious by the rescuers and were rushed to the hospital. The rescuers themselves also fell unconscious because of the smell of gas inside the sinkhole, the MGB report quoted Gellang as saying.

The victims and rescuers have recovered and were out of the hospital when MGB-6 conducted its inspection, the report said.

“One of our recommendations is that a more in-depth study should be done in the area, specifically to find out the extent of the existing sinkhole and the potential presence of other sinkholes in the area,” Juguan said.

“The study is necessary to determine further steps to ensure the safety of the residents and will know the safety measures to be taken and the implications to the stability of the area for construction and other development activities,” he added.

Juguan said an old-timer in the barangay told his team that a cow had fallen into another hole about 10 meters away from the present sinkhole before, but could not be rescued because of the depth in the place where it fell.

Suerte said the sinkhole was “an action of water,” or caused by water, as there are no tunnels near the area. “It is possible that the sinkhole might have a wider diameter below the surface, but only a portion on the surface has collapsed and gave an opening,” Suerte added.

Local residents said that there were three old sinkholes surrounding the area where the new sinkhole opened, the MGB report said.

The U.S. Geological survey defines a sinkhole as “an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage – when it rains, all of the water stays inside the sinkhole and typically drains into the subsurface.”

“Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground,” it added.*CPG

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