The intensified unrest of the Mayon Volcano has already displaced 14,360 individuals or 3,934 families in Albay province, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Monday.
In its latest situational report, NDRRMC said a total of 13,792 individuals, or 3,782, from 21 barangays in Albay, are currently staying in 22 evacuation centers, while 584 persons, or 156 families, have opted to stay with their relatives.
Of the displaced families, 883 are from Camalig, 57 are from Ligao, 615 are from Daraga, 1,046 from Guinobatan, 899 from Malilipot and 438 from Tabaco.
The Bicol government has declared 18 towns under a state of calamity.
The national government said it has provided P20.1 million worth of assistance to the Bicol Region, which includes the Department of Social Welfare and Development distribution of 50,000 food provisions amid the Mayon Volcano’s recent activities that have prompted evacuations in several areas in Albay.
In a television interview on Monday, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said they have already provided food provisions, good for 15 days, to the residents of nine affected local government units in the region.
“So we gave them 38,000 worth of food boxes in the LGU level, nine LGUs. And then another 15,000, another 15,000 with the governors sa provincial warehouse,” he added.
Gatchalian said each food pack contains six kilos of rice, nine canned good, coffee, and ready-to-eat oatmeal, noting that the national and provincial governments will take turns in food distributions.
“The game plan there is after 15 days, the provincial government will do the next six days of food relay. Then after which the national government will come in again for another 15 days,” he explained.
The government is expecting to evacuate up to 8,000 families if the Mayon’s unrest will continue to intensify in the coming days.
Gatchalian said the government is considering the provision of cash subsidies if the volcano’s massive restiveness will exceed 45 days. He added the budget will come from the DSWD’s social welfare fund.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has donated 50 tons of humanitarian relief goods for the affected residents of the nearby Mayon volcano.
Gatchalian said the DSWD will expedite the distribution of the UAE’s donation, which was transferred via a chartered flight to the Philippines on Monday.
UAE Ambassador Mohamed Obaid Salem Alqataam Alzaabi handed over the donation to Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, and Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2.
Active volcanoes update
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the lava flow activity in Mayon on Sunday night reached 500 meters from the summit crater along the Bonga and Miisi Gullies.
Mayon has logged 21 volcanic earthquakes, 260 rockfall events, and three pyroclastic density current events in Mayon Volcano. It spewed 642 tonnes of sulfur dioxide on Saturday while the emission of voluminous plumes is obscured. The volcano edifice is inflated with the fair crater glow and also remained to be visible to the naked eye.
In a television interview on Monday, Phivolcs officer-in-charge Director Teresito Bacolcol explained that the recent activities observed in Mayon, Taal and Kanlaon have no correlation with one another and that the three volcanoes can be “restive at the same time” because these are all active.
Mayon Volcano is currently under Alert Level 3 category due to its intensified magmatic unrest. The recommendation of the expanding permanent danger zone to 6 kilometers is possible should the status of the volcano will further be raised to Alert Level 4 category.
On the other hand, Taal Volcano in Batangas and Kanlaon Volcano in Negros Island are both under Alert Level 1 category as they are both exhibiting low-level unrest.
Phivolcs warned entering into a 4-km radius permanent danger zone of both Taal and Kanlaon remained prohibited while flying any aircraft close to these volcanoes is not allowed.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines updated their Notice to Airmen B2083/23, B2082/23 and B2081/23 for Mayon, Taal and Kanlaon Volcanoes, alerting airmen regarding the increased tendency towards a hazardous eruption and advising them to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ash from any sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft if sucked by the engines.
CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said that NOTAM were issued to remind pilots on board their aircraft to avoid flying too close to the volcano’s summit as there may be the possibility of sudden and hazardous steam-driven or phreatic eruptions.