Almost four months since the last eruption of Kanlaon volcano in December, 6,188 families or 19,926 persons remain displaced in the Negros Island, data form the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) showed.
Monitoring by the DSWD’s Disaster Response Operations Management, Information, and Communication (DROMIC) division showed that as of 6 p.m. of May 29, a total of 12,630 families or 48,528 persons are affected in 27 barangays in the Western Visayas and central Visayas regions.
Of those displaced, 2,615 families or 8,347 persons are still taking temporary shelter in 22 evacuation centers while 3,573 families or 11,579 persons are still staying with their relatives or friends.
More than P228.2 million worth of humanitarian assistance have already been distributed to those affected including the P125.9 million worth of food and non-food relief items from the DSWD, P30 million from local government units (LGUs), P33 million from non-government organizations (NGOs), and P38 million from other partners.
The field office 7 in Negros Oriental inspected an evacuation center in Canlaon City over the weekend to check on the conditions of the evacuees. There are still eight evacuation centers in Canlaon City with the 14 others located in Negros Occidental.
DSWD said Alert Level 3 or the state of magmatic unrest remains in effect over the Kanlaon volcano. The alert level was raised to level 3 on December 9 following the volcano’s eruption.
“This means that magmatic unrest could generate similar ash emission and even short-lived explosive eruptions in the short term which may generate life-threatening volcanic hazards. It is recommended that communities within a 6-km radius from the summit crater remain evacuated due to the danger of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), ballistic projectiles, ashfall, rockfall and other related hazards,” it added.
DSWD said the LGUs in the affected areas have been advised to continue preparing their communities within the PDC hazard zone for subsequent evacuation in case unrest further escalates and hazardous worst-case explosive eruption becomes imminent.
They were also advised to increase vigilance against potential syneruption lahars and sediment-laden stream flows in the event that intense rains occur.
