DepEd builds makeshift rooms for students forced out by Mayon evacuees

ALBAY townsfolk wait in evacuation centers as volcanologists study Mayon’s situation. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA / Inquirer Southern Luzon file photo

CAMALIG, Albay, Philippines—With Mayon Volcano continuing to be restive for more than a month now, the Department of Education has decided to build 15 makeshift classrooms for hundreds of students of the Camalig North Central School displaced by evacuees from the volcano’s danger zones.

John Fajardo, principal of the school, said the department decided to build temporary classrooms for the students so that they would no longer have go to another school to attend classes because their own classrooms are being used by the evacuees.

The makeshift classrooms are expected to be finished by Monday. Classes will be held in shifts to accommodate all the displaced students, he said.

Eduardo Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said while the inflation of Mayon has lessened, an eruption was still in progress and a big explosion still imminent.

He said crater glow that became evident on Tuesday and the 350-meter-long lava flow recorded Sunday were indications that the volcano was headed for an explosion.

In a bulletin, Phivolcs said only one rock fall was reported during the previous 24 hours while the amount of sulfur the volcano was emitting had fallen to 92 tons per day.

Meanwhile, the evacuees were to be entertained by Valerie Weigmann, newly crowned 2014 Ms World Philippines, whose mother is from Albay.

Weigmann, wearing her crown and sash, was welcomed at the airport by Gov. Joey Salceda and tourism regional chief Nini Ong Ravanilla.

“I’ve come here to personally visit and comfort the evacuees, to make them feel better, to tell them that everything is gonna be all right,” said Weigmann.

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