April 12, 2022 Tsunami: Abuyog, Leyte, Philippines

Note: source location is not confirmed

Reference #14323:

On April 12, 2022, videos of the first recorded landslide-induced tsunami in the Philippines spread on social media. These showed debris flowing over what was Barangay Pilar in Leyte Island, central Philippines where intense rainfall was sustained due to Tropical Storm Megi (Agaton). This event left 54 people dead, 49 injured and 33 missing in Pilar. We reconstructed the timeline and described the mechanism of this cascading disaster from multiple datasets: social media, news, incident reports, accounts of survivors and rescuers, satellite images, drone survey, field mapping, and 3D modelling. Results show that the residents pre-emptively evacuated days prior, but many returned to the village to replenish supplies hours before then Tropical Depression Megi weakened into a Low-Pressure Area […]volcaniclastic deposits slumped from the fault-cut ridge south of the village and was transported downstream by at least two distinct debris flow events. Not recorded on the videos was the first debris flow that buried half the area of the village. Its impact into the sea generated a tsunami that smashed through the rest of Pilar and reached neighbouring villages. Interviews and field investigation consistently indicate that the first and apparently larger tsunami obliterated structures along the coast of Pilar and drowned people trying to escape the landslide. Search and rescue teams arrived but had to narrowly escape the succeeding debris-flow and tsunami. The debris field and wrack lines indicate tsunami runup heights from 5 m to as high as ~12 m above mean sea level. This disaster convinced the government officials and residents to finally relocate the village. Equally important is to adjust disaster risk reduction plans to consider cascading hazards like landslide-tsunami scenarios.

Reference #13747:

There was an explosion from the mountaintop and within 10 seconds, massive erosion of rocks, soil, and vegetation followed. Their group scampered in all directions, Jessryl recalled. “When a pile of debris was about to cover me, a big wave swept me away to the sea. It was a miracle!” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday. The "miracle" was a tsunami, which the locals said, was generated from the displacement of large volumes of water caused by the major landslide […] The landslide happened around 3 p.m. on April 12. Debris covered 80 percent of Pilar village, according to the local police.

Reference #13748:

The death toll from the landslides in Baybay City and Abuyog in Leyte has climbed to 170 while 128 remained missing as of Sunday as responders continue retrieval operations one week after the tragedy […] The landslide in Pilar on April 12 covered 80 percent of Pilar. Adding up to the number of deaths are those residents swept away by tsunami. The displacement of large volumes of seawater caused by the major landslide generated big waves.