28 Apr Update from the field
Monday 27 April 2009
Although only a few miles from Tabuk, the landslide blocking the road was still not cleared by Sunday afternoon. When Vicky and her party finally opted to catch a bus toward Mountain Province, more than 300 people remained stranded on the Lubuagan side.
Waiting for the landslide to be cleared
Texting from her cell phone, Vicky related that she, the PEF monitor and Isabel Agustin, the Lubuagan area project coordinator, took a 14-hour bus ride in the opposite direction
The "open" road to Bontoc
– a treacherous ride to Bontoc and then along the Halsema Highway to Baguio City. After a 3 hours rest in Baguio, Vicky boarded a 3am bus heading to Nueva Ecija and her next meeting at PhilRice. The PEF monitor boarded a bus to Manila and Isabel headed back to Tabuk via Nueva Viscaya.
These rains are unusually heavy for this time of year and it is not known how it will affect the current rice crop.
All are exhausted, but very happy to be safely away from the landslides.