More residents flee Mt. Mayon due to ashfalls

By Ephraim Aguilar
PDI Southern Luzon Bureau

STO. DOMINGO, ALBAY--EVACuation centers here were suddenly deluged with increasing numbers of evacuees fleeing their homes after thick ash clouds formed around Mt. Mayon due to another collapse of lava fragments on the volcanoes slopes on Friday.

Vice Mayor Edna Banda said the fleeing residents were accommodated in designated evacuation centers although the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) had not raised the volcano alert level to four.

Alert level three remained hoisted over Mt. Mayon.

The Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council (MDCC) was forced to open the San Andres resettlement site, one of the two evacuation centers in this town, to accommodate residents of four villages at the foot of Mt. Mayon.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, there were 299 families or 1,524 persons from four villages affected by ashfalls due to prevailing winds, said Jukes Nunez of the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

These villages were Sta. Misericordia, Fidel Surdita, San Isidro and Lidong.
According to Banda, the evacuation centers are inadequate to accommodate all affected residents.

Not enough evacuation centers

MDCC action officer Romeo Cabria said there were only two evacuation centers to accommodate 9,323 persons or 2,095 families from five affected villages.

"There are also problems with the water system and lighting. We also have insufficient calamity funds which we cannot spend for this disaster alone as we have to allot some amount for other anticipated disasters throughout this year," Banda said.

But Beata Balingbing, 59, said they would rather stay by the roadside than stay at the crowded evacuation centers.

"Our children usually got sick when we stayed in evacuation centers. Even during the 1993 eruption we stayed here in the shelter we built because it was near the town proper," Balingbing said.

Sto. Domingo is a predominantly agricultural town with an extensive quarrying industry along the Basud River at the foot of the 2,474-meter Mt. Mayon.

About 71 percent of its land area is planted with rice, coconut, abaca and other crops which are now threatened with devastation in case of severe ashfall.

The restive Mt. Mayon, one of the most active volcanoes in the country, has been spewing an increasing volume of lava since July 14 when the alert level was raised to three.
3-km lava trail

The lava trail on Thursday was measured at more than 3 km from the crater or at an elevation of 1,100 meters above sea level.

The effects of the lava flow, rockfalls and detaching lava fragments were still confined within the 6-km-radius permanent danger zone (PDZ).

The provincial board has declared areas within the 6-km PDZ and 7-km extended high-risk zone on the southeast quadrant covering the villages in Daraga, Albay; Legazpi City, and this town under a state of calamity.

Romeo Cabria, MDCC action officer, said relief goods could not yet be distributed to the evacuees until after the next five days.

He explained that they would have to spend the calamity fund wisely since the alert level had not yet been raised to four, the time when mandatory evacuation should start.

Sanitary toilets are still to be built in the area as the existing ones are not enough, the MDCC said. Lighting and water systems are also inadequate.

PDCC action officer Cedric Daep said the major threat to Sto. Domingo town were ashfalls and not lava flows and rockfalls.

Phivolcs has advised residents near areas facing the south-southeast portion of the volcano and within 7 km of the crater, particularly Barangays Mabinit, Bonga, Matanag, Buyuan and Miisi in Legazpi City, to prepare for evacuation.

Philvocs said the toe of the main lava flow was slowly advancing toward the southeast following the main Bonga gully.

Meanwhile, alert level 2 remained in effect over Mt. Bulusan although no seismic activity was detected in the past 24 hours. On the other hand, Taal Volcano in Batangas remained at alert level 1.