The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) closed its research facility in La Granja, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, and evacuated its employees following the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Tuesday morning, April 8.
“We activated our SRA Disaster Response Team headed by SRA Board Member David Sanson and we are on alert, particularly in ensuring the safety of our employees,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.
He ordered the evacuation of the employees at the La Granja Agricultural Research and Extension Center, with a skeleton crew left behind to secure it, Azcona said.
All the SRA vehicles are ready to deploy when requested by the local government units, he added.
“We have regrouped our disaster response teams and we are closely monitoring the situation in Mt. Kanlaon. We have relief supplies in place if needed and we have also allocated some P4 million for other emergency supplies,” Sanson said.
If Alert Level 4 is raised at Kanlaon the temporary evacuation center for the SRA employees from La Granja will be at their Bacolod office, Azcona said.
The facility has 187 employees and 40 field workers. They were ordered to go home except for the guards.
The equipment at the facility are well protected, Azcona assured.
The ash might cause damage to their nursery in La Granja where they are propagating sugarcane varieties for distribution to farmers because it is an open area. The ash from the volcano is acidic and can damage the crops, Azcona said.
Last time, the damage was not extensive because it rained afterwards, but now, it’s so dry, he added.*