A total of 12,366 residents or 3,641 families evacuated three days after the explosive eruption of Kanlaon Volcano, as mass evacuations are still underway.
Data from the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD) showed La Castellana town had the highest number of evacuees with 8,505.
It is followed by La Carlota City with 1,258 residents, Pontevedra town with 721, and Bago City with 38.
They are currently staying in 22 evacuation centers in six local government units (LGUs), including the towns of Moises Padilla and Murcia.
Around 670 affected families or 2,502 individuals are staying with their relatives and in other nearby locations, the PDMPD said.
Evacuations are being conducted in localities near Kanlaon, which have been blanketed by ash, such as La Castellana and La Carlota.
Meanwhile, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said other LGUs in Negros Occidental are also prepositioning evacuation centers for more evacuees as the provincial government prepares for a worst-case eruption scenario.
More than 87,000 residents living within Kanlaon’s six-kilometer permanent danger (PDZ) zone are expected to evacuate.
Diaz said the PDZ will likely expand to 10 kilometers from its summit if another eruption occurs.
Earlier, the provincial government was preparing the facilities of the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City’s Barangay Mansilingan to accommodate about 3,000 evacuees affected by the eruption.
They will be accommodated up to the second floor of the grandstand of the sports complex.
Diaz said they are also requesting LGUs to open their pavilions at Panaad Park to cater more evacuees.
On Monday, December 9, Kanlaon had an explosive eruption that lasted three minutes and 55 seconds, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
The volcano emitted a 4,000-meter plume.
Ash fall and pyroclastic density currents descended the slopes of Kanlaon.
Kanlaon continued to display “high seismic activities,” recording two ash emission events and 31 volcanic earthquakes as of Wednesday, December 11.
Worst-case scenario
Phivolcs said it is yet too early to raise Alert Level 4 over Kanlaon Volcano, but it is doing “worst-case scenario planning.”
“We should prepare as if the alert level will go up,” Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said.
“We will assess this on a day-to-day basis. ‘Yung Alert Level 3, ibig sabihin nyan, hazardous eruption is possible in the next few weeks. We will have to evaluate this one … Titingnan natin kung mag-e-escalate ba further,” he added.
As part of their “worst-case scenario planning,” Phivolcs is considering the possibility of widening the scope of the mandatory evacuation, widening the scope to a 10-kilometer PDZ.
“This needs careful study because this would mean up to 139,000 residents would have to be evacuated. This also means that more evacuation centers and more provisions like food will be needed,” Bacolcol said.
The agency is also looking at the possibility of a tropical cyclone forecast to enter the Philippine area of responsibility in the third week of December that could trigger lahar flow from the volcano./ With reports from GMA Integrated News / WDJ