• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The San Carlos City government in Negros Occidental is preparing two evacuation sites to accommodate the spillover of evacuees from Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, in case of another Kanlaon Volcano eruption.
The city government, under its Oplan Alayon, has earmarked its evacuation centers in Barangay Codcod, San Carlos City, for about 2,000 families or about 8,000 individuals who will be displaced if Alert Level 4 is declared by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, its local disaster head, Jose Recalex Alingasa, disclosed yesterday.
Negrenses have been told by Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson to be ready for the culminating activity of Kanlaon Volcano.
This was after the PHIVOLCS reported that the magma in Kanlaon Volcano has risen to less than five kilometers from the crater, with frequent tremors also noted, based on its ground deformation models.
Should another eruption occur, be it sooner, or later, hopefully, it will be a lava flow. We should prepare for that, Donato Sermeno III, Office of Civil Defense regional director for Negros Island Region, said.
The Office of the Civil Defense is preparing for the potential evacuation of up to 100,000 residents if the alert level of Kanlaon Volcano is raised from 3 to 4, according to OCD administrator Ariel Nepomuceno.
Alert Level 3, or magmatic unrest, still prevails over the volcano, according to PHIVOLCS.
Sermeno also reported that 220 family tents have already been assembled at the tent city in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.
The Himamaylan tent city is earmarked for the spillover evacuees from La Castellana, which has almost all its barangays situated within the six kilometer permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano.
The tent city in Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental, earmarked also for Canlaon City evacuees, has however not yet started construction, as the concerned local government unit is still trying to identify the site, Sermeno said.
On the other hand, Alingasa said the two evacuation sites for evacuees from Canlaon City are located in the barangays of Rizal and Prosperidad, San Carlos City.
Sermeno said that OCD is also sending family tents to the cities of Canlaon and San Carlos.
The municipal government of Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental has also entered into a memorandum of agreement with Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental, to accommodate residents from the latter, in case of another Kanlaon eruption.
As of February 12, a total of 8,753 families composed of 28,638 persons from Regions 6 and 7 have been affected by the continuous restlessness of Kanlaon, according to data from the Department of Health – Negros Island Region.*
