Aid pours in for thousands of displaced Albay folk

A contingent of the country’s armed forces, including the Philippine Coast Guard, prepare to be deployed with their equipment as Mayon volcano continues its sporadic eruption in Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018. Mayon’s lava fountaining has flowed up to more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the crater in a dazzling but increasingly dangerous eruption. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

LEGAZPI CITY—A Swede and his family, Indian medical students, and a construction magnate are extending help to tens of thousands of people displaced by Mt. Mayon’s eruptions.

Swede Ted Litens, wife Mary Ann of Albay province, son Robert John and other relatives on Sunday gave 800 burgers to children at Oro Site High School, which hosts 846 people from Bagong Abre village.

Litens and his wife had been to the evacuation center twice to give burgers. On the second day, they were able to solicit donations worth P15,000 from friends via Facebook.

Gifts from students

Help also came from some 25 Indian students at Bicol Christian College of Medicine here.

At Bagumbayan Central School, the Indian students gave gifts to displaced residents from Buyuan, a village inside the 8-kilometer danger zone of Mayon.

The students gave the evacuees face masks, biscuits, canned goods, pastries, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Land offered

For his part, businessman Elizaldy Co offered 41 hectares of prime land in Legazpi City as temporary evacuation site for displace residents.

Through Sunwest Care Foundation, the Bicolano construction magnate said his 41-ha property along Legazpi Boulevard could comfortably accommodate more than 50,000 families.