• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
More evacuated residents whose houses are located outside the four-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) of Mt. Kanlaon in La Castellana, Negros Occidental have been allowed to return home.
John de Asis, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said Friday (June 21) that they have sent home 369 families, composed of 1,250 individuals, since June 20.
It is expected to be followed by 170 families, composed of 565 individuals, he added.
As of June 21, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has logged zero volcanic quake. However, the Alert Level 2 remains in effect.
De Asis said that there are still less than 1,000 individuals staying in three evacuation centers in La Castellana.
Some 30 families were discovered to have been residing within the four-kilometer PDZ in barangays of Biak na Bato, Masulog and Cabagna-an.
Almost 5,000 residents of La Castellana were affected by the ashfall, sulfuric odor and lahar flow, following the June 3 phreatic eruption of Mt. Kanlaon.
As of June 20, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that it has distributed P26 million in various assistance to 1,598 beneficiaries.
A total of 1,386 families in La Castellana received financial aid of P10,000 each under the DSWD Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program.
Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan has expressed support to the recommendation of the Office of the Civil Defense Region 6 that those residing in the PDZ should be relocated. | GB
