ALBAY GEARS UP FOR MAYON ERUPTION

LEGAZPI CITY — At least 11, 981 residents in Daraga and Camalig town in Albay province have already been evacuated as Mayon Volcano spewed lava and ashes manifesting an intensified restiveness, according to the Bicol Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC).

During the Bicol RDCC and Albay PDCC joint emergency meeting earlier today, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol regional director Raffy Alejandro said preemptive evacuation will also cover the cities of Tabaco and Ligao, and the towns of Malilipot and Guinobatan.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) chief, said a total of 47, 285 residents or 9,946 families from 56 villages around the volcano will have to voluntarily flee their homes or be evacuated in safe distant places in order to prevent any casualty or loss of life.

Earlier today, disaster managers from Albay PDCC and Bicol RDCC convened laying out measures to beef up emergency operation and execute evacuation procedures to ensure the safety of all residents.

In the said meeting, Science Research Analyst Alex Baloloy of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Lignon Hill Observatory reported that a major eruption of Mayon might occur within the period of two weeks if the abnormalities would continue and further intensify.

“We already sought augmentation of our manpower from Phivolcs Central Office in Diliman, Quezon City for the close monitoring of Mayon,” Baloloy said adding that a team of geologists, volcanologists and scientists just arrived this morning to help the observatory center.

Declaring that a hazardous eruption is imminent, the scientist, however, has warned that a major eruption could even happen within Alert Level 3 without prior upgrade of alert status from the current alert status to neither level 4 nor 5.

Baloloy explained that Alert Level 1 means abnormal; Level 2, alarming; Level 3, critical; Level 4 entails eruption is imminent; and, Level 5 indicates eruption is in progress.

He noted that the continuous tremors recorded in the seismograph since lava started to trickles down slopes, “most of the quakes were due to falling lava fragments. Short duration tremors were characterized by low-frequency volcanic quakes.”

Meanwhile, Governor Joey Salceda, Albay PDCC chair, has issued last night Mayon advisory recommending the following measures to prevent casualty in consonance with the province’s “zero casualty” target in time of disaster:

1. All City/Municipal and Barangay Disaster Coordinating Councils should carry out mandatory evacuation of households in all areas within the 6 kilometer permanent danger zones (PDZ) and the 7 kilometer extended danger zone (EDZ) up to the 8 kilometer extended high risk zone (EHRZ) in the Southeast Quadrant of the volcano, particularly Buyuan, Mabinit and Bonga areas.

2. All City/Municipal and Barangay Disaster Coordinating Councils around Mayon Volcano should immediately convene and activate emergency operation and execute evacuation procedures as ordered.

3. Barangays should advise affected households to prepare emergency provisions like clothing, basic utensils and beddings.

4. Joint AFP-PNP Task Force Mayon (JTFM) should assist in the evacuation of the population mentioned and strictly enforce checkpoints at strategic areas to ensure that nobody enters the danger zones.

5. Classes in schools within the 8 kilometer radius of the volcano are suspended and classrooms should be used for evacuation. School authorities are advised to devise scheduling and shifting strategies that would enable pupils to revert to regular classes as soon as possible and for evacuee pupils to hold classes within the premises of the evacuation school.

The goal is to minimize disruption in classes, given that evacuation period for Mayon eruption last between 42 to 87 days.

6. All PDCC member agencies should implement their respective contingency plans and assist the people affected and need to be evacuated.

7. The Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH), Provincial Health Office (PHO) and other local health offices, including district hospitals and Rural Health Units (RHUs) within the Mayon area are now placed under Code Blue.

PHO should closely coordinate with the Department of Health (DOH) and BRTTH in preparations for the health requirements particularly WATSAN in the evacuation centers.

8. Albay Health and Emergency Managers (AHEM) should dispatch its paramedic units in assisting LGUs and barangays in the evacuation procedures to be undertaken.

9. PSWDO should immediately ensure the availability of necessary basic needs in the identified evacuation centers and to continue re-packing of food items to be distributed immediately to evacuees.

10. The Philippine National Police (PNP), along with the Barangay Tanod should ensure the security of the houses to be vacated during evacuation.

11. Residents, motorists and school children should protect themselves for possible ash inhalation by covering their nose with damped cloth or handkerchief to prevent health problems.

12. PDCC should secure a declaration of state of imminent calamity from Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan to empower affected LGUs and barangays to use their calamity funds for evacuation procedures and other required response measures.

APSEMO, on the other hand, has identified Daraga town one of the most threatened area with the difficulty in transporting residents particularly from the villages of Matnog and Bañadero due to an unfinished bridge project across the Yawa River.

Also during the joint emergency meeting of RDCC and PDCC, Camalig Mayor Carlos Baldo said, “Some residents in our place are now at the holding areas, we just need transportation support from other government agencies, particularly from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the massive evacuation efforts.”

In Guinobatan town, Mayor Juan Garcia appealed for dust masks and evacuation vehicles as the volume of ashes that fell on the town last night seemed like “we were having a white Christmas.”
The joint AFP-PNP Task Force Mayon is already tasked to assist in the evacuation of the population involved and strictly enforce checkpoints at strategic areas to ensure that nobody enters the danger zone at any time.

Daep said that evacuation vehicles being taken care by the Task Force Mayon will be evenly distributed to ferry the residents who have stayed at the designated pick-up points in their villages around the provinces.

“The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is also sought to compare prices before the Mayon abnormalities to avoid trader exploitation and if possible conduct price monitoring to protect the consumers,” he added.

Latest bulletin of the Phivolcs On Mayon Volcano shows that glowing lava fragments were seen continuously detaching from the crater of the volcano, which came to rest on the upper and middle slopes, about 3 km from the summit, during the past 24-hour observation period.

Seismographs recorded 83 volcanic earthquakes compared to 43 on Monday while the sulfur dioxide emission rate increased to 757 tons per day from the previous 535, the bulletin added.
Scientists are now collating the ash explosion intervals, aside from sulfur dioxide emissions, volcanic quakes, crater glows, “bulging” of the slopes and steaming activities.

Phivolcs noted that in Mayon Volcano’s history, most eruptions are explosive in nature. (MALoterte, PIA V)