• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Following the downgrade of Kanlaon unrest from Alert Level 3 to 2, the Office of Civil Defense – Negros Island Region (OCD-NIR) is targeting to decamp more evacuation centers in local government units affected by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.
In Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, a total of 1,791 families who are living outside the 4-kilometer permanent danger zone, are set to return home on July 31, while the 45 families residing inside the danger zone will remain in the evacuation center, according to its local disaster council.
On July 29, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) lowered the unrest status of Kanlaon Volcano from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2, or from magmatic unrest to moderate level of volcanic unrest on July 29. However, it still strongly recommends that at AL2, “communities within the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone (PDZ) 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.”
Alert Level 2 means that there is decreased unrest but should not be interpreted that unrest has ceased or that the threat of an eruption has disappeared, given that magma has already been intruded deep beneath the edifice, PHIVOLCS said.
OCD-NIR regional director Donato Sermeno III disclosed on Wednesday 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, to discuss with their respective mayors and local disaster councils the organization of demobilization plans of evacuees.
Sermeno said they are eyeing the start of decampment within this week.
OCD records showed that there are still 4,281 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are staying in the evacuation camps for almost eight months already, after the Kanlaon Volcano eruption on December 9 last year.
Sermeno has 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 residents to return home, as they could no longer afford to support them in the evacuation centers.
PHIVOLCS attributed the lowering of alert level to the overall decreasing trend in the level of monitoring parameters, including volcanic earthquakes, ash emissions, decreased degassing that could indicate a pause in the intrusion of, or depletion of volcanic gas in, magma within the shallower levels of the edifice, as well as deflation of the volcano edifice, among others.
Alert Level 3 was raised over the volcano following its major eruption on Dec. 9 last year.
Sermeno said that some of the evacuees who are living within the 4-kilometer permanent danger zone have already expressed their intention to avail of the relocation site being offered by the government.
La Castellana Mayor Añejo Nicor, who welcomed the lowered alert level, said he is waiting for the go signal from OCD for the return of town evacuees, with 2,000 still in evacuation centers.
Despite the lowered alert level, Sermeno said they will not dismantle the checkpoints, to ensure that nobody will enter the 4-kilometer permanent danger zone. At present, OCD provides a 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. window hours for farmers to do essential activities within the danger zone.
Under Alert Level 3, the PHIVOLCS recommendation covered a 6-kilometer extended danger zone.*
