GUINOBATAN, ALBAY—Residents who had fled their homes in fear of an eruption of Mayon Volcano were overjoyed to learn early Saturday that the alert level had been lowered from four to three on a five-point scale.
“Definitely it is over... for now,” Albay Gov. Joey Salceda was quoted by wire reports as saying.
He said he had allowed most evacuees to go home but that those living in two barangays near the volcano—or the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone—would have to remain in evacuation centers.
Salceda said all families leaving the temporary shelters would be provided food rations for three days and
cash for home repairs.
“Wow! We can go home after half a month here,” Nora Apuyan exclaimed, adding that she and her family would pack their stuff while awaiting confirmation and a go-signal from Mayor Juaning Garcia.
Apuyan, 42, was among the residents of Barangay Maninila who were sheltered at the newly built permanent evacuation center donated by an agency of Spain.
In its latest bulletin issued Saturday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) lowered Mayon’s alert level from four (meaning a hazardous eruption was possible in days) to three (meaning there was less probability of a hazardous eruption).
Phivolcs said an overall gradual decrease in volcanic activities had prompted it to lower the alert level.
“However, [this] should not be interpreted that the unrest of the volcano has ceased,” it added.
At the peak of the alert, close to 50,000 people were being sheltered in public schools and other evacuation centers in Albay.
Homeward bound
The Joint Task Force Mayon (JTFM) started transporting the evacuees back to their homes Saturday morning.
The evacuees were given relief goods including 15 kilos of rice and P1,400 “cash for work” from President Macapagal-Arroyo through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
A P15-million fund for farm rehabilitation (including two tractors from the Department of Agriculture) that was originally secured by the provincial government for upland areas is to be realigned to barangays around Mayon.
Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, the JTFM spokesperson, said 25 military vehicles composed of 15 six-by-six trucks and 10 Korean-made KM450 vehicles had been dispatched to various shelters in Albay as of noon Saturday to transport the evacuees.
Roads within the 8-km extended danger zone were ordered opened for the passage of the evacuees.
The Bureau of Fire and Protection was also ordered to clean up the schools vacated by the evacuees in preparation for the resumption of classes on Monday.
The Phivolcs reminded the public that the 6-km permanent danger zone around Mayon and the 7-km extended danger zone on its southeast sector are off-limits to human activities because of “sudden explosions that may generate hazardous volcanic flows.”
As well, it reminded residents near the danger zones to be wary of “post-eruption activity, such as rock falls, pyroclastic flows and ash fallout, which can also occur any time due to the instability of lava deposited on steep slopes.”
Bansawan said checkpoints would be “repositioned” to prevent people, particularly farmers and tourists, from entering the restricted areas.
‘Miracle’
Vilma Ostria said she and her family had been staying with other Maninila residents at the evacuation center since Dec. 15, and constantly worrying over their household and farm.
“We want so much to go home,” the 45-year-old mother of seven told the Inquirer.
Ostria said she and her husband had been praying that their farm produce would not be wasted.
“Our tomatoes, which we will start harvesting by the end of this month, were spared by the ashfall. That’s a miracle, and that’s because of our strong faith in God,” Ostria said.
She said they had feared the loss of more than P50,000 in possible earnings from their half-hectare tomato farm, aside from the root crops that made up their daily food consumption along with rice and vegetables.
Ostria said no one would give them that kind of
money if they lost the crops to thieves. “That’s why heads of families can’t just abandon their farms and stay in evacuation centers,” she said.
Widow Solidad Osila, 70, said she was happy to be told to prepare to decamp. “The sleepless nights are over. We sleep late at night here at the evacuation center, unlike at home where we sleep as early as 7 or 8 p.m.,” she said.
Like an island
Maninila is like an island whenever it is swamped by lahar (or volcanic mudflow) because it is surrounded by two rivers.
Mayon’s eruption in August 2006 caused no immediate deaths, but the following December, a passing typhoon unleashed an avalanche of lahar from its slopes that left about 1,000 dead.
Rosito Padua, a member of Maninila’s barangay council, said the disruption of the people’s livelihood was one of the worst effects of Mayon’s current unrest.
“We really don’t trust Mayon even if it is already slowing down, and as barangay officials, we will continue to be vigilant,” he said.
Padua said the evacuation had taken a toll on the earning capacity of the farmers, who should have made a number of harvests.
He said some farmers were able to make just one harvest, thus barely earning capital for the next planting season.
Padua recalled that during Mayon’s eruption in 1993, the residents of Maninila and of the adjacent Barangay Tandarora had to flee under a cloud of ash that billowed and settled on their rice farms.
“Thank God no one was killed,” he said.
Marieta Lacza, a mother of four who owns a sari-sari store in Maninila, brought her small business to the evacuation center in Barangay Travesia so that she could continue paying for her
loan.
“Sales at the evacuation center are better because there are many buyers. But it is still the comfort of our home that we prefer because we can do other things, such as farming and other jobs.” said Lacza, 44.
Preemptive evacuation
The residents evacuated from the 6-km permanent danger zone totaled 12,803 (or 2,728 families) from 20 barangays in the cities of Ligao, Tabaco and Legazpi and the towns of Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga, Sto. Domingo and Malilipot.
They were evacuated as early as the night of Dec. 14, when alert level three was declared.
The number rose to 47,285 (or 9,946 families) when the alert level was raised to four at 12 noon on Dec. 20, after 34,482 (or 7,218 additional families) were evacuated from the extended danger zones.
But many evacuees complained that the temporary shelters, mainly public schools, had inadequate facilities and food supplies.
Elba Bana, 60, said she was happy to go home.
But she added: “We are always afraid, especially when the rain is strong and there may be lahar. If there is strong rain, then we may be evacuated again.”
Governor Salceda said the preemptive evacuation had shown that the Philippines was well prepared in the case of a future eruption.
“We have proven already that we can easily bring [the people] back to the evacuation centers,” he said.
Prayer and plea
Salceda thanked everyone who had assisted the provincial government in the preemptive evacuation of residents.
“Thank you for the prayers,” he said, adding that it was the 12th time Albay had implemented a preemptive evacuation.
Salceda said a preemptive evacuation was “a community prayer in humility to God’s will and respect for nature, and similarly, a collective plea to preempt the disaster from materializing
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100102-245202/Definitely-over-for-now
