By JEN BAYLON
A total of 1,526 individuals or 368 families in Negros Occidental were evacuated following the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Monday night, June 3, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said yesterday.
Kanlaon’s eruption has affected 84 barangays in 10 local government units (LGUs), according to PDRRMO’s situational report yesterday afternoon.
At least 222 individuals in Bago City, 371 in Pontevedra town, 857 in La Castellana town, and 76 in La Carlota City were evacuated.
The PDRRMO has yet to determine if there were any casualties or missing individuals due to the volcanic activity.
It also reported that ashfall was observed in six LGUs, and sulfurous odor in eight localities.
Ashfall was expected in La Carlota and the southeastern part of Bago, as well as in the municipalities of La Castellana, Pontevedra, Valladolid, San Enrique, Hinigaran, and Binalbagan.
Sulfurous odors have also been reported reaching some barangays in capital Bacolod City, based on the report of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Local health authorities continue to monitor residents with respiratory illnesses who may be affected by ashfall and volcanic fumes.
Residents have been advised to stay inside their homes and maintain adequate ventilation indoors as sulfur may cause a stinging sensation to the eyes and blurring of vision.
They are also encouraged to wear face masks, or cover their nose and mouth with a damp, clean cloth.
For individuals with breathing difficulties, progressing cough or itchy throat, they should seek medical consultation, authorities say.
The residents are advised to be vigilant and avoid the volcano’s four kilometer-radius permanent danger zone to minimize risks from sudden explosions, rockfall and landslides.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised the alert level of Kanlaon Volcano from Alert Level 1 (abnormal) to Alert Level 2 (increasing unrest), after its six-minute phreatic eruption on Monday at 6:51 p.m.
The eruption was followed by a 5,000-meter high plume spewed by Kanlaon and a relatively strong volcano-tectonic earthquake.
Heavy rain and lightning also hit the area.
“[Alert Level 2] means that there is current unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes that could eventually lead to further explosive eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption,” Phivolcs said earlier.
Phivolcs explained that a phreatic eruption happens when there is a presence of a high water level in the volcano’s crater.
The extreme hot weather led to a rise in energy levels that pushed the water upwards and the spewing of “incandescent elements,” it said.
The Kanlaon Volcano Observatory has monitored the rising seismicity of the volcano in recent months./ With reports from PNA / JB, WDJ