Nineteen families in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental remain in evacuation centers, while the rest of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the Mt. Kanlaon eruption last year have already returned home, an official said yesterday.
In an interview, Seth Cabanas Bariga, information officer of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), told the Philippine News Agency that originally, 45 families inside the four-kilometer permanent danger zone of the volcano were identified as not qualified to return home.
“Some of these families, however, opted to leave the evacuation centers to stay with relatives instead,” Bariga said.
He added Camps 11, 13 and 19 evacuation sites are still functional, but the EOC will identify only one to accommodate all remaining IDPs for easier management and monitoring.
As the IDPs begin a “new life” after eight months of staying in temporary shelters, the local government unit (LGU), the barangays and government agencies are committed to assisting them in their recovery phase, Bariga said.
The IDPs will continue to receive cash aid from the city, whether staying inside the camps or outside, although the amount each month will vary depending on the availability of funds, he added.
Bariga said Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas has instructed the barangays to evaluate the houses of the families who have returned home and will be sending galvanized iron sheets as needed.
They were also given food packs by the Department of Social Welfare and Development before they exited the camps.
The city is also looking at providing them with seeds and fertilizers in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture.
Bariga said the recovery phase for those who have returned home may not be that difficult as the IDPs were given a window between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day to go to their farms to till their lands and tend to their livestock in the past months.
Thousands of residents of villages inside the PDZ were evacuated since the December 9, 2024 eruption of Mt. Kanlaon.
The majority of them were allowed to go home after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology downgraded the volcano’s alert status from three to two last week. (PNA)