Evacuees fleeing Mayon wrath reach 38,000

FIERY ATTRACTION Tourists, carrying camera-equipped phones, pause by the national highway at Camalig town in Albay province on Wednesday afternoon to take pictures of Mt. Mayon as lava continues to flow from the volcano’s crater. —GEORGE GIO BRONDIAL

LEGAZPI CITY—While Mt. Mayon was still classified under a high level of unrest, the government’s chief volcanologist said there were no indicators that would call for the need to raise the alert level hoisted over the volcano.

Mayon has been on Alert Level 3, a condition where a hazardous eruption is possible “within weeks or even days,” since Sunday night.

As of Thursday, the number of residents who fled communities around Mayon had increased to 38,771 (9,537 families), according to the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office.

In a press briefing here, Renato Solidum, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director, said while there was a new lava dome around the crater of the volcano, the lava that it had belched out starting on Monday had yet to reach the volume expected by the agency.

He said areas within the volcano’s 7-kilometer radius were affected by Mayon’s recent activity, when it spewed steam, ash and lava this week.

“A major eruption would reach [areas] up to 10-km radius [just like in] previous eruptions years back. But now, we don’t see the worst case scenario in this activity,” he said.

“Quiet lava effusion from the new summit lava dome and lava collapse events characterized Mayon Volcano’s eruptive activity in the past 24 hours,” a Phivolcs bulletin on Thursday said.

“Forty-eight rockfall events, two pyroclastic density currents … and one volcanic earthquake were recorded by Mayon’s seismic monitoring network,” it added.

Ed Laguerta, Phivolcs resident volcanologist here, said communities in the southern part of Mayon, like villages in the towns of Sto. Domingo, Daraga and Camalig, and Legazpi City and portions of Ligao City, should watch out for rockfall and lava flow from Mayon.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara said authorities must be strict in monitoring the danger zones to ensure the safety of residents.

“We should be [on a] ’man-to-man’ [guarding] there (inside the danger zone),” he said.

Despite the prohibition to enter the 7-km permanent danger zone, some residents return to get food supply, check their property or feed farm animals, authorities said.

Classes resume

The Department of Education (DepEd) said classes would resume in schools used as evacuation centers through temporary learning spaces.

During his visit here on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque stressed the need for temporary learning facilities for student-evacuees.

“It is an urgent need now, [Education] Secretary [Leonor] Briones, for temporary school facilities for children to graduate this March,” he said.

According to Mayflor Marie Jumamil, DepEd information officer in Bicol region, 34 public schools are used as evacuation centers in Albay.

She said 8,703 students were affected by the suspension of classes due to Mayon’s activity.

Jumamil said evacuees were using 421 classrooms, meaning students would need at least 100 temporary learning spaces.

Church relief ops

She said some temporary spaces built during the 2014 Mayon eruption needed repairs.

The Catholic Diocese of Legazpi, through its Social Action Center (SAC), said it would start conducting relief operations to help evacuees.

Fr. Rex Arjona, SAC executive director, said parishes in affected areas were setting up soup kitchens and offering church facilities to evacuees.

“We are also reviving [the] Harong (house) program or volunteer shelters in private homes, especially for those near the evacuation centers, in order to decongest evacuation centers and improve evacuees’ well-being,” he said. —REPORTS FROM MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN, MA. APRIL MIER, NIKKO DIZON AND JULIE M. AURELIO