A tight watch is being enforced to ensure that farmers allowed into Kanlaon Volcano’s 6- kilometer danger zone from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. return to their evacuation centers at the end of the day, an Office of Civil Defense official said Monday, May 26.
Only adults are allowed in the area during the day to tend to their farms, but they cannot stay there overnight, Donato Sermeno III, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCDE) Negros Island Region, said.
He said they received reports that children were also being brought to the area, which should not be allowed.
Residents are allowed to continue farming in the 6-kilometer danger zone because they need to earn money, especially for the education of their children who are in college, he said.
However, the strict compliance of the 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. window for entering the danger zone is being enforced amid the danger of another Kanlaon explosion and lahar flow should heavy rain occur, he added.
Lahar flowed about 6.2 kilometers from the crater of the volcano on Saturday, Sermeno said.
Residents went into the danger zone to clean their lahar-hit homes and returned to their evacuation centers, he said.
Head counts are made at the evacuation centers to make sure that all those who enter the danger zone return at the end of the day, John de Asis, La Castellana, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head, said.
He said they are also keeping a close watch since a weather disturbance is expected to bring rain that could trigger more lahar flow.
The lahar flow that hit Barangay Biak na Bato, La Castellana, on Saturday was triggered by heavy rain.
Residents reported hearing a distinct rumbling sound before the lahar event.
Lahar was also reported at the Baji-Baji Falls in La Castellana and Guinpana-an in Moises Padilla.*