Internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano in the cities of Bago and La Carlota City in Negros Occidental are getting recovery and rehabilitation support from national government agencies and local government units (LGUs).
“The Regional Incident Management Team (RIMT) continues to work closely with LGUs and partner-agencies to support safe, informed and dignified returns for all affected residents,” the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Negros Island Region (DSWD-NIR) said in a report on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
A team from partner-agencies, including the Office of Civil Defense and the Department of Health, conducted site visits in the affected communities on Tuesday.
After coordinating the ongoing response efforts and gathering situational updates with the Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, they visited Barangay Ilijan to assess the condition of 22 damaged houses of 81 residents still staying at the city’s evacuation center.
The volcanic eruption damaged roofs of houses and downed power lines.
The city government has scheduled the decampment of Barangay Ilijan residents on Aug. 16.
The RIMT personnel then proceeded to adjacent La Carlota City, where they joined the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council meeting with Mayor Jose Luis Jalandoni.
They discussed the preparations for the decampment of the 61 families or 225 individuals from Barangay Ara-al.
In La Castellana town, the worst-hit LGU, evacuation centers still have 61 families or 213 individuals, whose homes are located within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone.
Around 1,300 displaced families or 4,000 persons, who reside outside the permanent danger zone, returned home last week after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology lowered the status of Kanlaon Volcano to Alert Level 2 (moderate level of volcanic unrest), from Alert Level 3 (magmatic unrest/high level of volcanic unrest) on July 29.
The DSWD recommended that communities within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone should remain evacuated due to the lingering chances of short-lived explosive eruptions and sudden steam-driven or phreatic explosions.*PNA