Over 1.5K people displaced in Negros Occidental after Kanlaon Volcano eruption

A total of 1,562 individuals or 210 families in the province of Negros Occidental were transferred to evacuation centers following the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Monday, the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) said Tuesday. 

Based on its 6 a.m. situational report, the PDRRMC said Kanlaon Volcano’s eruption affected 84 barangays across 10 cities and municipalities. 

The council has yet to determine if there were any casualties or people missing due to the recent volcanic activity. 

The entire province of Negros Occidental was placed by the PDRRMC under "Blue Alert" a few hours after the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.

In La Castellana, Negros Occidental, municipal disaster risk reduction and management office (MDRRMO) head John de Asis said that 842 people were evacuated.

“Negative na ‘yung ashfall kasi wala namang other phreatic na same kagabi na event,” he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview,

(There’s no more ashfall because there’s no more phreatic eruption like last night.)

“Meron pang (usok) sa kanyang edifice na tinatawag natin at sa crater, makikita na may usok pang lumalabas,” he added. 

(But there’s still plumes coming out from the volcano’s crater.) 

In Canlaon City, a total of 397 individuals were affected, with 155 of them needing to be transferred to evacuation centers. 

Mayor Jose Chubasco "Batchuk" Cardenas, during a local disaster risk reduction and management (LDRRM) meeting on Tuesday, said they are considering recommending a declaration for a state of calamity in the city.

He earlier ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents living within three meters from the river downstream of Kanlaon Volcano.

"The rivers downstream from the volcano are at risk of flash floods, mudflows, and other hazards due to volcanic ash deposition and potential lahars," said Cardenas in Executive Order No. 36.

Some flights were canceled on Tuesday, June 4, due to the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano, airport authorities said.

In a separate statement, House Speaker Martin Romualdez called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately release P40 million worth of aid to victims of the Kanlaon Volcano eruption.

Romualdez said that P40 million will be sourced from the funds for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), P20 million, and the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, P20 million.

He added his office will release P4 million worth of food packs for the victims from the Speaker’s Disaster Assistance Fund.

“These funds will provide much-needed support to affected residents in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, ensuring they have the resources to cope with the disruptions caused by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano,” Romualdez said.

“[And by] providing these food packs, we aim to meet the urgent needs of our communities and ensure no one goes hungry during this difficult time," he added.

PHIVOLCS raised the alert level at Kanlaon Volcano from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2 on Monday, meaning its increased unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes could eventually lead to “further explosive eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption.”

Since 1866, all of Kanlaon's eruptions, except one, were phreatic in nature. 

According to the United States Geological Survey, a phreatic eruption is made up of "steam-driven explosions that occur when water beneath the ground or on the surface is heated by volcanic activity. The water, once heated, begins to boil or can even flash straight to steam, causing an explosion." 

In 1902, Kanlaon had a strombolian eruption, which is a "moderately explosive eruption of basaltic magma with moderate gas content," the National Parks Service said.—with Llanesca Panti/AOL, GMA Integrated News