- GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Expanding the PDZ to 10 kilometers would ensure that all residents in the path of lahar can be evacuated even before the hazard arrives, the Phivolcs said.
The Office of Civil Defense is eyeing the expansion of the Kanlaon Volcano permanent danger zone (PDZ) from six kilometers to 10 kilometers, if weather conditions worsen.
Mudflows were already reported in some villages of the affected local government units of La Castellana and La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, due to rains in the past several days.
“We are keeping a close watch on the PAGASA weather reports, that would be the trigger for a massive evacuation,” OCD Western Visayas director and Task Force Kanlaon chief Raul Fernandez said.
Mari Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory in La Carlota City, said that Phivolcs has only recommended evacuation within the six-kilometer PDZ radius.
However, they also warned that prolonged and heavy rainfall may generate post-eruption lahars from remnant pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits from the Dec. 9 volcano explosion, Quintia added.
Phivolcs said there are 111 barangays in 14 LGUs that are within the lahar hazard zone.
Fernandez said that expanding the PDZ to 10 kilometers would ensure that all residents in the path of lahar can be evacuated even before the hazard arrives.
He admitted that a PDZ expansion would mean thousands more to be evacuated, and clarified that this is just an advance planning.
“But preparatory works for an expanded evacuation is underway to ensure that we are ready for the worst-case scenario,” the OCD6 chief said.
As of Dec. 19, there are 5,642 families, composed of 18,644 individuals from 21 affected barangays of La Castellana, Moises Padilla, La Carlota, Pontevedra, Murcia, and San Carlos City in Negros Occidental now staying in evacuation centers.
In Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, 1,749 families, or 5,646 individuals, have been evacuated from the six-kilometer PDZ and are now staying in nine evacuation centers. | GB
