Kanlaon quiet after night of rumbling, rain of rocks

CALM NOW A resident of La Castellana town in Negros Occidental province observes a relatively calm Mt. Kanlaon on Tuesday, a day after the volcano spewed ash and rocks (inset) and forced residents in communities around the volcano to flee. —Agence France-Presse

BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — Mt. Kanlaon appeared to calm down for most of Tuesday after an eruption that drove at least 1,504 residents to flee their homes in three cities and three towns on Negros Island.

Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured the affected families in Negros that the government was on top of the situation and its agencies had deployed their teams to assist the evacuees.

Sugar farm worker Rodelia Canlas, one of the evacuees, said she and her neighbors in Purok Rose, La Castellana town, in Negros Occidental, which is at the foot of the volcano, were all praying that it would not erupt.

Canlas, 58, said they had no choice but to evacuate with her children and grandchildren.

READ: Kanlaon eruption: DOH urges residents near volcano to take precautions

“It was very scary,” she said. “There was thick ash and rocks coming out of the volcano with fire and a rumbling sound like thunder.”

Nenita Alvarado of Barangay Masulog, also in La Castellana, said it was the first time in all her 70 years that she experienced Kanlaon’s wrath.

She said rocks from the volcano rained on the roof of their home. Her neighbors started shouting that they should all leave the village.

Evacuation

Mayors Jose Chubasco Cardenas of Canlaon City in Negros Oriental and Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan of La Castellana said they declared a state of calamity on Tuesday to enable their respective localities to adequately respond to any emergency.

Cardenas said 155 villagers were forced to evacuate from five barangays that were nearest to Kanlaon because of the volcanic activity.

Aside from Canlaon City, 336 families, composed of 1,349 people, were evacuated from the cities of Bago and La Carlota and the towns of La Castellana, Moises Padilla, and Pontevedra—all in Negros Occidental.

Coarse ashfall was felt in other localities in that province—San Carlos City and the towns of Valladolid and San Enrique.

Residents in the cities of Bacolod, Binalbagan and Bago and the towns of La Castellana, Murcia, Valladolid and San Enrique said sulfurous odor pervaded the air, akin to the smell of rotten eggs.

‘Dangerous’

Although Kanlaon has had frequent phreatic explosions, its last magmatic eruption was recorded in 1866, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

The agency still said, “Kanlaon is quite a dangerous volcano.”

Phivolcs raised the volcano’s alert level to No. 2 at midnight on Tuesday after it was reported spewing fire and ash at 6:51 p.m. on Monday.

This second of Phivolcs’ four alert levels indicates a “moderate level of volcanic unrest.”

The eruption produced a voluminous and incandescent plume that rapidly rose to 5,000 meters above the vent and possible pyroclastic density currents, or PDCs, approximately 2 to 3 kilometers down the southern and southeastern slopes, based on thermal camera monitors.

Phivolcs said the eruption lasted six minutes and was preceded by a strong volcano-tectonic earthquake.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines canceled 66 flights, causing 5,057 passengers to be stranded in major airports in the Visayas.

Operations at Bacolod-Silay Airport and Iloilo Airport resumed at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The President, in his video message uploaded on Facebook, said Phivolcs, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Department of Social Welfare and Development were working together to monitor the volcanic activity and aid the affected residents.

“I also appeal to those living near the area to be alert and avoid the 4-kilometer radius of the permanent danger zone and listen to the advisories of local authorities,” he said.

Marcos said 170 families, or 796 people, were affected by the eruption and have been relocated to evacuation centers.

“We distributed sleeping kits in La Castellana town and 13,000 family food packs are already prepositioned in Negros Island. Another 40,000 food packs and other nonfood items are on the way. Our air assets are also on standby for faster response,” Marcos said.

Assistance

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian also assured the evacuees of government assistance as he flew to Canlaon City on Tuesday on Marcos’ order.

Lt. Gen. Fernando Reyeg, head of the Visayas Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said: “We have mobilized our personnel and resources in coordination with the different local disaster risk reduction and management councils to ensure that we can respond effectively to this disaster.

Police Col. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, said search and rescue teams are ready for deployment.

“We already reminded our PNP personnel to prepare for all disasters since the rainy season is here and after Kanlaon erupted in Negros Occidental,” she said in a press conference at Camp Crame.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) reminded the public to wear face masks and safety goggles, as well as ensure that they are consuming clean food and water.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said the Western Visayas Center for Health Development of the DOH had sent face masks, safety goggles, hygiene kits, jerry water cans and disaster relief tents to affected areas near the volcano. —with reports from Jerome Aning, Julie M. Aurelio, Dexter Cabalza, Kathleen de Villa, Frances Mangosing and Russel Loreto