The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has held off raising the alert level at Kanlaon Volcano following a two-minute moderately explosive eruption on Thursday that caused ashfall across 50 barangays in nine local government units in Negros Occidental.
Irene Bel Ploteña, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), reported on Friday, Feb. 20, that the eruption prompted the evacuation of 60 families (195 individuals) from Barangay Ilijan in Bago City and Barangays Araal and Guintubdan in La Carlota City.
Barangay Araal in La Carlota City, located near the volcano’s base, was covered in ash Friday morning.
Classes at all levels were suspended in La Carlota City, La Castellana, and Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental, as well as Canlaon City in Negros Oriental on Friday.
The nine areas hit by the eruption’s ashfall and sulfuric odor are Bago City, Pontevedra, La Castellana, La Carlota City, Moises Padilla, Hinigaran, Valladolid, San Enrique, and Binalbagan, the PDRRMO reported.
Donato Sermeno III, director of the Office of Civil Defense – Negros Island Region, disclosed that immediately following the 4:39 p.m. eruption on Thursday, the OCD advised to prepare for preemptive evacuations because initially Phivolcs said they would raise the Alert Level at Kanlaon from 2 to 3.
However, Sermeno noted that the eruption halted after two minutes and Kanlaon has shown no unusual activity since. The volcano remains under Alert Level 2 and the planned call for preemptive evacuations has been rescinded, he said.
Currently, 109 families who previously resided within Kanlaon’s four-kilometer permanent danger zone in Canlaon City and La Castellana also remain in evacuation sites, having left the area last year, Sermeno said.
He said 22 families from geographically isolated areas in Bago City have also been living in an evacuation center since last year.
“Let us pray Kanlaon does not erupt again,” Sermeno said.
Meanwhile, Mari Andylene Quintia, PHIVOLCS resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Observatory in La Carlota City, said that while there have been no succeeding events at Kanlaon since Thursday, the occurrence of further activity cannot be discounted.
Quintia explained that Kanlaon’s monitoring parameters are currently not as elevated as they were during the 2024 eruptions, when the alert level was raised to Level 3.
She said the volcano will remain at Alert Level 2 unless the monitoring parameters show an upward trend.
During Thursday’s eruption, Quintia noted that Kanlaon emitted ash, sulfur, and potential ballistic projectiles that were not visible during daylight hours.
PHIVOLCS reported that the eruption generated a dark gray plume that rose 2,000 meters above the crater before drifting southwest.*
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