• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Following the downgrading of Kanlaon Volcano unrest status from Alert Level 3 to 2, the Office of Civil Defense-Negros Island Region (OCD-NIR) is targeting to decamp more evacuation centers in the affected local government units (LGUs).
In Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, a total of 1,791 families, who are living outside the four-kilometer permanent danger zone, are set to return home on July 31 while the 45 families inside the danger zone will remain in the evacuation center, according to its local disaster council.
While the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) lowered the volcano’s alert status from magmatic unrest to moderate level on July 29, it still strongly recommended that Alert Level 2 “communities within the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone should remain evacuated due to the lingering chances of short-lived explosive eruptions and sudden steam-driven or phreatic explosions that can generate life-threatening volcanic hazards”.
OCD-NIR Regional Director Donato Sermeno III said on Wednesday (July 30) that members of the incident management team are now visiting the affected LGUs, including La Carlota City and La Castellana in Negros Occidental and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
“They are discussing with their respective mayors and local disaster councils how to ensure an organized demobilization plans of evacuees,” he added.
Sermeno said they are eyeing the decampment to start within the week.
OCD records showed there are still 4,281 internally displaced persons (IDPs) staying in the evacuation camps since the volcano’s explosive eruption on Dec. 9 last year.
Sermeno, however, strongly advised concerned LGUs against the return of IDPs, who are residing within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone.
Two weeks ago, the La Castellana government allowed more than 1,800 of its IDPs to return home as they could no longer afford to support them in the evacuation centers.
Sermeno said that some of the evacuees, who are living within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone, already expressed their intention to avail of the relocation site being offered by the government.
La Castellana Mayor Añejo Nicor said he is waiting for a go-signal from the OCD for the return of evacuees, with 2,000 of them still in the evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, Sermeno said that despite the lowered alert level, they will not dismantle the checkpoints to ensure that nobody will enter the four-kilometer permanent danger zone.
The OCD provides 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. window hours for farmers to do essential activities within the danger zone. | GB
