La Castellana evacuees from danger areas near Kanlaon Volcano have gone home, while those in neighboring La Carlota City may be allowed to return to their villages on Saturday.
About 2,800 La Castellana evacuees were allowed to return home on Saturday, September 21, Emily Tan, municipal social welfare officer, said on Wednesday, September 25.
This also allowed them to use schools being occupied by the evacuees for the resumption of classes in the town on Monday, she said.
Mayor Rex Jalandoon said 557 evacuees from four sitios in Barangay Yubo, La Carlota City, near Kanlaon may be allowed to go home by Saturday if the situation at the volcano does not worsen.
The evacuees are asking to return home because their normal daily lives have been disrupted, Jalandoon said.
However, “we asked that bedridden elderly persons not be allowed to return because it would be difficult to rescue them in case of an eruption”, he said.
Although the number of earthquakes and sulfur dioxide emissions are lower than in previous weeks Alert Level 2 remains over Kanlaon Volcano, Mari-Andylene Quintia, Phivolcs resident volcanologist, said on Tuesday.
The possibility of a magmatic eruption still remains, she warned.*