THE situation in Sorsogon has improved since last Sunday’s phreatic eruption of Bulusan Volcano, paving the way for the possible return of hundreds of displaced residents once ash-clearing operations are completed.
Bulusan “has become peaceful” and “ashfall has already stopped,” according to Mark Timbal, spokesman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
“Cleaning activities had already started with the help of the community and the uniformed services, “ Timbal told an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.
Bulusan Volcano had a phreatic or steam-driven eruption on Sunday, displacing 56 families, composed of 216 individuals, from Barangay Puting Sapa in Juban town due to ashfall.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Alert Level 1 (low-level unrest) in Bulusan Volcano shortly its eruption, from Alert Level 0 (normal).
“The cleaning activities continue, we’re just wanting to make sure that when the evacuees return home they will not be exposed to the ash that still lingers in the air,” said Timbal.
“Once the cleaning has been done and completed I guess these families are good to go.”
Timbal said initial damage to agriculture was placed at P20 million. He said he is not certain if the government will distribute financial assistance to the affected farmers.
He said relief operations are also underway for the displaced residents who are provided with their needs, including food packs and hygiene kits.
Timbal said the Department of Social Welfare and Development has prepositioned 1,000 additional food packs for the evacuees.
During the “Laging Handa” public briefing, Timbal said Bulusan “has turned calm and there are no major eruption activities like last Sunday.”
Citing information from Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero, Timbal said the situation in Sorsogon is “manageable at the level of the local government unit.”
On Monday, Escudero said the eruption has been “sensationalized to a large extent because the ashfall only happened for about 17 minutes.” He also noted the evacuees were from only one barangay.
“When it comes to the impact, no houses were damaged and the government service, including public utilities like water, electricity and telecommunications, were not affected,” said Timbal.
But Timbal said the water source of a community in Juban town was affected by the ashfall.
“The community had a problem with water supply because the spring where they source water was exposed and contaminated with ash,” said Timbal.
He said the local government unit immediately deployed water tankers and the private sector distributed bottled water to the residents.
Timbal said the Philippine Red Cross also sent additional supplies to the area.
During President Duterte’s “Talk to the People” address on Monday night, NDRRMC executive director Ricardo Jalad said the Bicol regional disaster risk reduction and management council and Sorsogon province are prepared for a worst-case scenario, which is a violent eruption of Bulusan Volcano.
“If that happens, we will expand the danger zone to six kilometers (from the current four kilometers). And based on the assessment of Sorsogon, about 95,000 will be affected,” said Jalad.
Under that scenario, Jalad said there will be pyroclastic and lava and mudflow, on top of ashfall.
“If the worst-case scenario happens, we have to evacuate the entire municipality of Irosin (town), the municipality of Irosin is big, and the caldera of Mount Bulusan is located there,” he said.
“The mandatory forced evacuation will happen if the alert level in Mount Bulusan is raised to three or four,” said Jalad.
Meanwhile, Phivolcs said it has recorded seven volcanic earthquakes from 5 a.m Monday to 5 a.m yesterday, lower compared to the 29 volcanic quakes that were recorded from the previous 24-hour period.
The volcano’s edifice remains inflated.
Bulusan remains under Alert Level 1, meaning it is under a low-level unrest. Activity within the four-kilometer danger zone is still prohibited and flying of aircraft close to the volcano is not allowed as sudden phreatic eruptions are still possible.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said it has distributed P165,623 worth of assistance – P153,873 of which from DSWD and P11,750 from local government units.
Around P676 million in funds, P74.587 million in family food packs, and P250.88 million in non-food item relief goods are on standby and ready for distribution.
President Duterte, during the Talk to the People address on Monday night, assured the affected communities that the “government is there to help” and all agencies concerned are on standby to attend to their needs. — With Jocelyn Montemayor