34,000 evacuees from Mt. Mayon’s 9-km extended danger zone to be sent home

Evacuees cook their meals at a common kitchen in an evacuation center in Miisi village, Ligao township, following the sporadic eruptions of Mayon volcano, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, in Albay province, around 200 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP file Photo/Bullit Marquez)

LEGAZPI CITY-At least 6,871 families or 34,355 persons that sought shelter in various evacuation centers would be allowed to return to their residences on the recommendation of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).

Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay Public Safety Emergency and Management Office (APSEMO), said on Friday that decamping is expected to start as soon as they received the directive from OCD.

Daep in an interview said the decamping order would cover only those villagers whose houses are situated within nine kilometers around the volcano earlier declared by the province as a buffer zone after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Alert Level 4 over Mayon Volcano on Jan. 22.

Daep said those to be decamped were residents in 27 villages in the towns of Sto. Domingo, Bacacay, Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan and the cities of Tabaco, Ligao, and Legazpi.