At least 6 people have died, while 30 remain missing under toxic debris since Thursday
\n MANILA
\nRescuers raced against time on Sunday to find dozens of people still missing after a deadly landfill collapse in the central Philippines.
\nA huge mound of garbage at the 15-hectare Binaliw open landfill in Cebu City collapsed suddenly on Thursday afternoon, burying more than 100 workers and nearby structures and underneath.
\nThe Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office told Arab News that as of Sunday, at least six people were dead, while 30 remained under the debris.
\nOnly light equipment was brought to the site, and rescuers were combing through the high piles of decomposing waste manually.
\n\u201cThe recovery operations are ongoing. Heavy equipment cannot yet be brought into the area because the site is still unstable, and moving any structure or beam could cause the garbage mound to collapse again,\u201d the agency said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re still hoping that there are survivors.\u201d
\nWhile the cause of the landfill collapse remains unclear, the local government in Cebu said factors such as rain softening the soil and September\u2019s earthquake shifting rock formations contributed to the disaster.
\nFor environmentalists, however, it was not unexpected.
\nJesse Baring, a Cebu City-based chemical engineer and environmental advocate, said it was an \u201caccident waiting to happen.\u201d As he compared a few months of drone imagery, he told Arab News he had observed a \u201cbig lapse on the part of the operator, as they have stockpiled the garbage as if it were on a flat land.\u201d
\nGreenpeace Philippines said in a statement that the incident painted a \u201cgrim picture\u201d of the Philippines\u2019 \u201cbroken waste management system\u201d and compared it to the Payatas tragedy in July 2000, when more than 200 residents died after a massive garbage dump collapsed at the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City.
\n\u201cThe Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 9003) \u2014 a law passed after the Payatas tragedy \u2014 was primarily designed to ensure waste prevention through source reduction and segregation, but enforcement has been inconsistent,\u201d Greenpeace said.
\nSince 2019, when the landfill was opened, it received 600 tons of waste every day, according to data from the Movement for a Livable Cebu, which called for an independent investigation into the landfill disaster and a review of local government waste management plans.
\n\u201cThe residents of Barangay Binaliw have long complained and endured the stench, flies, untreated wastewater leachate, deep well water contamination and other health issues,\u201d said Joel Lee, MLC\u2019s executive director.
\n\u201cUnless we take decisive action, we are bound to face worse consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 6 people have died, while 30 remain missing under toxic debris since Thursday MANILA Rescuers raced against time on Sunday to find dozens of people still missing after a deadly landfill collapse in the central Philippines. A huge mound of garbage at the 15-hectare Binaliw open landfill in Cebu City collapsed suddenly on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-525056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n