Landfill collapse in the Philippines: race to rescue those trapped
Rescue teams in the central Philippines continued their arduous and perilous search on Saturday, using bulldozers and heavy equipment, in a desperate attempt to find survivors among the enormous piles of garbage following the tragic collapse of a massive landfill. The incident buried dozens of sanitation workers and killed at least six so far, in a scene reminiscent of similar tragedies that have plagued the country.
Details of the Cebu disaster
The incident occurred last Thursday when a mountain of garbage, estimated to be about 20 stories high, collapsed at the Benaleo landfill, a private facility in Cebu City. The sudden collapse buried approximately 50 sanitation workers alive, as mounds of trash crashed down onto buildings housing the workers on the site.
Joe Reyes, a rescue worker in Cebu City, told AFP that the biggest challenge was the site's instability, saying, "Rescue workers are now at risk of more rubble collapsing as they move through it." She added that operations are frequently halted to ensure the safety of rescuers due to the landfill shifting under pressure.
Dave Tomolac, an official with Cebu City Council, confirmed that six bodies had been recovered, while 32 people remained missing. He noted that rescue teams were facing enormous logistical difficulties due to heavy steel fragments mixed with debris, hindering both manual and mechanical excavation.
Historical background: The specter of the "Payatas" tragedy
This incident brings to mind one of the worst waste-related disasters in Philippine history: the 2000 collapse of the Payatas landfill in Quezon City. In that horrific event, a mountain of garbage collapsed due to heavy rains, killing more than 200 people (unofficial estimates suggest much higher numbers) and destroying hundreds of makeshift homes surrounding the landfill. That disaster prompted the passage of the Environmental Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. However, the current incident in Cebu raises serious questions about the enforcement of safety standards at these facilities more than two decades later.
Waste management crisis and urban expansion
This incident highlights a deeper crisis facing the Philippines and many developing countries in Southeast Asia: the challenges of rapid urbanization and population growth without adequate development of waste management infrastructure. Large cities are often forced to rely on overflowing open dumps, turning them into ticking time bombs that threaten the lives of workers and nearby residents.
Furthermore, the presence of workers’ accommodations within the Cebu landfill grounds reflects a difficult economic reality, where many workers in this sector are forced to live in unsafe conditions near their livelihoods, making them the first line of defense and the first victims when such environmental disasters occur.
