• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has recorded five ash emission events, five minutes to 116 minutes long, at Mount Kanlaon in Negros Island, as of Jan. 3.
Aside from the 27 volcanic quakes, including nine volcanic tremors, the volcano also continued to emit sulfur dioxide gas.
State volcanologists said that Mt. Kanlaon spewed 4,861 tonnes of gas on Thursday, with degassing activity generated plumes that rose 300 meters from the summit and drifted west and northwest.
Phivolcs said Mt. Kanlaon’s edifice remained inflated as Alert Level 3, or magmatic arrest, prevails over the volcano.
Negros Occidental officials, led by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, will meet with representatives of the Office of Civil Defense and Phivolcs next week to discuss the fate of internally-displaced persons being housed in evacuation centers.
As reported by the Department of Health-Negros Island Region, there are 4,325 families, composed of 13,920 individuals, occupying 34 evacuation centers in La Castellana town and the cities of Bago, La Carlota, and San Carlos, all in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental. | GB
