Evacuees in Canlaon City received aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development on Tuesday.*DSWD photo
About 12,000 evacuees who have sought refuge away from Kanlaon Volcano after its eruption on Monday, Dec. 9, could spend Christmas in evacuation centers.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Tuesday that he was informed by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro that the minimum evacuation period may be three weeks, which would mean over Christmas.
If Kanlaon does not calm down their stay in the evacuation centers could be even longer, Lacson also said.
The Negros Occidental provincial government is set to declare a state of calamity to use its 30 percent quick response fund that amounts to P78 millionto, the governor said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recommended the mandatory evacuation of residents within the 6-kilometer radius of Kanlaon’s main crater.
As of Tuesday afternoon there were 3,428 families or 11,564 individuals in evacuation centers in four towns and two cities in Negros Occidental, and 476 individuals in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental
More are still being evacuated, Lacson said
La Castellana had 7,983 evacuees, Moises Padilla – 36, Bago City – 1,512, Pontevedra – 722, La Carlota City – 1,258 and Murcia – 53, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council reported.
RED ALERT
Lacson has placed all disaster risk reduction management councils in Negros Occidental on red alert.
If Phivolcs sees the possibility of a second eruption they will call for a 10 kilometer radius forced evacuation, Lacson said.
“This is really serious now and we’re hoping that the LGUs will cooperate and join in the forced evacuation up to 10 kilometers” when it is ordered, he said.
The Department of Defense has created a Task Force Kanlaon headed by Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 Director Raul Fernandez that will give the signal if a wider radius of evacuation will be needed, Lacson said.
CALMED DOWN
Kanlaon appeared to have calmed down on Tuesday after its explosive eruption on Monday that led to the raising of its alert level to three, Mari Andylene Quintia, Phivolcs resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory in La Carlota City, said.
There was not much activity at Kanlaon on Tuesday with only a few minor volcanic earthquakes recorded, there were no additional eruptions, she said.
There is a big possibility that the eruption on Monday that spewed ash and rocks was magmatic so more eruptions are possible, she said.
If it rains the deposits spewed could turn into lahar, she said.
MARCOS ASSURANCE
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told reporters in Manila that the Department of Budget and Management has given its assurance that the government still has enough funds to respond to this latest calamity.
“We are ready to support the families who have been evacuated outside the 6 kilometer danger zone,” Marcos said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Science and Technology are continuing to monitor the air quality to see if there is as need to do more in terms of evacuating, he added.
EVACUEES
Sara Estanda and her three sons from Barangay Yubo, La Carlota City, evacuated to the La Carlota City College after the eruption.
Estanda said she and her sons were wearing face masks and face shields because the ash was thick and the sulfur fumes sting.
She said she was washing clothes when she heard a loud bang and wondered if someone had set off a Boga (firecracker) but when she turned around she saw that the volcano was exploding.
She then went to get her children from their school.
They evacuated but her husband was left behind to tend to their farm animals.
The ash also hit the Guintubdan spring in Barangay Araal, La Carlorta, but Mayor Rex Jalandoon said they were sourcing water needs from the covered section of the spring that was still safe.
They have no problem with water supply yet, he said.
Araal Barangay Captain Carlos Natuel Jr, said when the volcano erupted the sky turned dark and ash had covered a large section of Sitio Guntubdan.
He said 600 residents in remote sitios of Araal have been evacuated
The ash and sulfur have made the road slippery in Guintubdan, he is hoping it will be washed out by rain, Natuel said.
TASK FORCE
A Regional Task Force Kanlaon Emergency Operation Center has been established in Bago City, with plans to set up a Regional Inter-Agency Coordinating Cell in Bacolod City, Donato Sermeno, OCD Negros Island Region director, said.
There has been resistance from some residents in the 6-kilometer radius from evacuating, Sermeno said.
He appealed for them to evacuate as their lives are in danger.*