Hunger stalks evacuees as Mount Mayon grumbles

Evacuees from Camalig town in Albay province board a dump truck on their way to an evacuation center. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA

GUINOBATAN, Albay — Arlene Oliquino, 45, is thankful that she, her family and other families are in a safe place as Mayon volcano continues to spew ash and lava. But their temporary stay at an evacuation center in Lower Binogsacan High School here comes with another challenge.

“Yes, we are away from danger but our stay in an evacuation is also a burden. We do not have enough food supply, particularly viand, and drinking water,” she said.

Oliquino is one of the 37,864 people, belonging to 9,361 families, who were evacuated in Albay province after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Alert Level 3 over Mayon on Sunday. The volcano has been spewing ash and lava this week.

Phivolcs on Wednesday warned that the recent activity of Mayon might cause more hazards than the 2014 eruption.

Renato Solidum, Phivolcs executive director, said the oozing of lava following the phreatic (steam-driven) eruption on Saturday was “very fast.”

“It means the magma is very fluid, so lava will go down faster and reach down faster,” he said.

According to Solidum, there is still a possibility of an “explosive” eruption based on the current gas readings for the volcano, which Solidum described as more similar to an eruption in 2000.

“The real factors are how fast magma rises and the gas content, but we don’t see it reaching the scale of the 1814 eruption. It won’t be the worst case scenario,” he said.

Another evacuee, Gregorio Moroto Jr., 38, said many of them were forced to return to their villages to get food, despite warnings from local authorities not to venture into the permanent danger zone within Mayon.

But lack of food supply is not the only problem evacuees are facing.

Myrna Nulles is complaining of clogged toilets in evacuation centers.

Children, whose families left their communities as Mt. Mayon started to spew ash and lava, catch on sleep at a classroom in Guinobatan town, Albay province. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA

Rommel Obniala, the school’s utility man, said only eight of 20 toilets in the school could be used as evacuees had been disposing wastes, like sanitary pads and baby diapers, improperly.

Many evacuees who are sick or recovering from illnesses complained of discomfort at evacuation centers.

“I can’t sleep well because the floor is cold and I’m only using a piece of cardboard as a mat,” said Rica Padua, who had just undergone surgery.

Ricardo Bolante, who is undergoing dialysis, said evacuees were not provided with proper sleeping materials.

The Albay provincial government said it would declare “financial depletion” within five to eight days after Tuesday’s declaration of state of calamity so the province could ask augmentation funds and support from the national government.

Cedric Daep, head of Albay Pulic Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo), said the province’s calamity fund for the year was not enough to support the disaster operations on the eruption of Mayon.

“We will only be utilizing the first quarter allocation for this year and the balance for the previous year,” Daep said.

He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development had already committed to support the operations after 10 days.

According to Lilybeth Reforsado, provincial budget officer, Albay has P94.2 million allocated for local disaster risk reduction and management fund this year. A balance of P20.4 million remains from the previous year. —MA. APRIL MIER, MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN, REY ANTHONY OSTRIA AND JAYMEE T. GAMIL