MANILA, Philippines?Beyond food and other basic supplies, Albay Governor Joey Salceda will use entertainers, storytellers, and even clowns to help keep folks fleeing Mayon Volcano?s wrath inside evacuation centers.

Bracing for the long haul in evacuation centers, he said evacuees need psychosocial care to help them through their daily lives in their temporary homes.

?We need external validation or affirmation on the sacrifices of our evacuees for the temporary breakdown from their normal habitat,? he said in a radio interview Monday.

The governor said the situation of the Mayor evacuees presents another opportunity for communities to act together, especially this Christmas season.

In the coming days, Salceda said evacuees could reach 9,946 people in all temporary shelters, the provincial government?s target, as more families have come to accept that they are safer in the centers.

?The probability of survival in an eruption is zero if you are within the area, there?s no survival in an eruption, no rescue,? he added.

He said it was understandable for some families to think twice about leaving their homes because they want to spend Christmas there, but they have come to realize the risks of staying there.

Salceda said he will make sure that all evacuation centers will hold their Christmas party to bring cheers to the evacuees. Activities in centers will also be launched soon like movie showing, storytelling, poetry reading, and singing contest.

The provincial government will continue to be in coordination with national agencies such as the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the needs of the people.

The evacuees are those living in barangays (villages) that lie within the eight-kilometer-radius danger zone at the foot of the volcano who are directly threatened by the lava flow.

The evacuees have been told to prepare ?for an extended stay of up to three or four months? in temporary shelters, Cedric Daep, the public safety and emergency chief in Albay province, said Sunday in an Agence France-Presse report.