By JEN BAYLON
Water sources in nine barangays in Negros Occidental’s Bago City are no longer safe for drinking after they were contaminated by ashfall from Kanlaon Volcano’s minor eruption over the weekend.
Dr. Merijene Ortizo, head of the Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said volcanic ashfall has affected Barangays Mailum, Ilijan, Dulao, Ma-ao, Binubuhan, Abuanan, Antipuluan, Tabunan, and Bacong in the city.
Ortizo said the most affected water sources are in Mailum, which were contaminated by ashfall from Kanlaon’s minor eruption last Saturday, February 15.
“The water from the barangay is not safe anymore for drinking,” she said.
The CDRRMO has coordinated with the City Health Office to conduct laboratory tests on water supply in the affected villages.
Ortizo stated they have requested the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Team to conduct a physico-chemical analysis of the open water sources in Mailum.
A total of 9,827 residents in Sitios Lunao, Hagdan and Tabidyaw, as well as Purok Pili, all in Barangay Mailum, rely on spring water for their drinking and utility water.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and CDRRMO sent water tankers to ration drinking water for the affected residents.
The city government also distributed face masks to residents.
Kanlaon had an eight-minute minor eruption over the weekend, releasing a grayish ash plume 1,500 meters above its crater.
Ashfall and sulfurous smells were reported in several localities in Bago, located south of Negros Occidental capital Bacolod City, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a report.
The winds carried the ash westward, causing ashfall in several barangays of Bago, including Abuanan, Binubuhan, Dulao, Ilijan, Ma-ao, and Mailum.
Sulfurous odors were also reported in Barangay Bacong.
50 nipa huts
Ortizo said 50 nipa huts for affected evacuees located in Barangay Napoles will be turned over by the city government this week.
A total of 24 families, composed of 51 individuals, residing within Kanlaon’s six-kilometer danger zone will be the beneficiaries of the nipa huts, she added.
Each nipa hut that will house a family of internally displaced persons (IDPs) costs P50,000.
The installation of traditional nipa huts is targeted for completion and occupation by IDPs by the second and third week of next month, Ortizo said.
The city government will also provide several huts for security personnel, medical and camp management teams in the evacuation sites.
Inflated slope
Kanlaon continues to have inflation, especially in its Eastern Upper Slopes, since a minor eruption occurred in January, Mari-Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist of the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory, said.
Quintia said the volcano continues to show inflation, ash and sulfur emissions after its minor eruption on Saturday afternoon.
Data showed that as of yesterday, Kanlaon recorded 32 volcanic earthquakes and sulfur emissions of 4,604 tons per day.
Quintia said the rise and fall of the ash emissions indicates that the volcano is showing swelling and contraction inside.
“Magma is moving inside the volcano’s storage area near its summit,” she explained.
Alert Level 3, or magmatic unrest, prevails over Kanlaon, which means that “magmatic unrest could generate similar ash emissions and even short-lived explosive eruptions in the short term, which may generate life-threatening volcanic hazards.”/JB, WDJ