Kanlaon calms down but evacuation continues

This is done because another eruption can still happen

NO WINTER WONDERLAND Ashfall from the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon on Monday has blanketed much of Negros Occidental province, like here at Guintubdan Spring in Barangay Araal, La Carlota City. Photo taken on Dec. 10. —La Carlota City Water District photo

BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — At least 11,564 residents from two cities and four towns who left their homes to stay in Negros Occidental shelters because of Monday’s Mt. Kanlaon eruption may be forced to stay until Christmas.

This despite the volcano being observed to have  calmed down.  

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said even if the volcano appeared to have calmed down on Tuesday, the evacuees might not be able to return home to ensure their safety.

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The governor said Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. told him that it would take at least three weeks of no volcanic activity to make sure it would not erupt again.

Only minor quakes

Lacson said the province was set to declare a state of calamity to allow the use of its 30-percent quick response fund amounting to P78 million for the needs of displaced residents.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 3,428, or 11,564 individuals, were being sheltered in the six localities of the province but the number could rise as more people were still being evacuated, Lacson said.

The evacuated residents were from the towns of La Castellana, Murcia, Moises Padilla and Pontevedra, and the cities of La Carlota and Bago, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

In Canlaon City in Negros Oriental, 476 residents in the danger zone were evacuated, Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas said.

On Monday, Mt. Kanlaon exploded from 3:03 p.m. to 3.07 p.m. on Monday, generating a plume height of 4,000 meters (not kilometers as earlier reported).

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) immediately recommended the mandatory evacuation of villagers living within the 6-km radius from the main crater of Mt. Kanlaon.

Lacson said that if volcanologists see a possible second eruption, they would call for a 10-km-radius forced evacuation.

The Department of Finance has created Task Force Kanlaon headed by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Visayas Director Raul Fernandez that will give the signal if a wider evacuation will be needed.

Mari Andylene Quintia, the Phivolcs resident volcanologist at the Mt. Kanlaon Observatory based in La Carlota City, said there was not much activity at the volcano with only a few minor volcanic earthquakes recorded on Tuesday.

“(But) there is a big possibility that the eruption on Monday, that spewed ash and rocks, was magmatic so more eruptions are possible,” she added.

Aid, advisories

Quintia said authorities should also brace for lahar, a grayish mudflow composed of ash and other debris from the eruption, should it rain in the coming days.

Hernani Escullar, spokesperson of the Department of Education in Western Visayas, said in-person classes have been canceled in 424 schools in Negros, Iloilo and Guimaras provinces, affecting 213,093 learners. Ashfall also hit some parts of Iloilo and Guimaras, he said.

To ensure coordination among various agencies, a Regional Task Force Kanlaon Emergency Operation Center was set up in Bago City, the OCD reported.

Donato Sermeno, the OCD Negros Island Region director, said some residents in the 6-km radius who have refused to evacuate were being convinced to do so.

Flights were canceled in parts of Western Visayas on Monday and Tuesday after Mt. Kanlaon’s eruption, including Cebu Pacific’s flights from Iloilo to Manila, Singapore, and Cebu on Monday evening, and a flight to Dumaguete on Tuesday morning.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) on Tuesday said aircraft were still advised to avoid flying close to Mt. Kanlaon due to “possible hazards of sudden steam-driven or phreatic eruptions and precursory magmatic activity.”

Caap extended its notice to airmen for flights near Mt. Kanlaon with vertical limits from the surface to 3 km (10,000 feet), effective from 5:18 p.m. on Dec. 10 to 3:31 p.m. on Dec. 11.

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, who visited Negros Occidental on Tuesday on orders of President Marcos, led the distribution of 980 family food packs amounting to P597,800.

He assured the displaced residents the government would continue providing them their needs while they remained in shelters. —with reports from Joey Marzan, Dexter Cabalza, and Jerome Aning