Internally displaced persons (IDPs), whose homes lie beyond Kanlaon Volcano’s six-kilometer extended danger zone (EDZ), have returned home.

After a consultative meeting and careful deliberation, local officials have allowed some 897 IDPs, or 254 families, who reside outside the EDZ, to decamp and return to their villages.

According to the La Carlota City Information Office (CIO), these communities include Sitios Nailab, Tinin-awan, Gama, and Mansibanga in Barangay Ara-al; Sitio Jamindang in Barangay Haguimit; and Sitios Labinsawan, Bais, and Batacon in Barangay Yubo.

For over six months, these IDPs took shelter in several educational facilities, such as the La Carlota City South Elementary School II, La Carlota North Elementary School, and the La Carlota City College-Cubay Campus.

The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) recommended decamping to give way for the opening of the new school year and the resumption of face-to-face classes in schools used as evacuation camps.

The CIO said this move intends to address the disruption in face-to-face schooling of learners, all the while setting students’ safety and welfare as the priority.

Meanwhile, with Alert Level 3 still raised, the CDRRMC still prohibits entry into the six-kilometer radius from the crater of the volcano.

This means that about 232 IDPs — or 64 families — originally from within the EDZ, will remain at the safety of evacuation camps, but will have to be relocated to the City Evacuation Center and City Gymnasium 1, where government support will continue.

La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalando-on, for his part, has assured the public that mechanisms are in place to facilitate a smooth transition for these families returning to their homes and students back to their classrooms.

Given this development, local authorities monitor the situation. (PIA Negros Occidental)