DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PIA) — Some 143 families with 477 individuals from five barangays in Canlaon City have been evacuated and are now stating at the evacuation centers provided by the Canlaon City government.
Canlaon City Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas has issued an executive order enforcing the mandatory evacuation for the remaining residents from five barangays affected by Mt. Kanlaon’s eruption, namely: Masulog, Lumapao, Pula, Malaiba, and Linuthangan.
Vehicles were also deployed to the affected baranqays to transport the affected residents to the evacuation centers at Jose B. Cardenas Memorial Elementary School Uptown Campus and Macario Espanola Memorial Elementary School.
According to Canlaon City public information officer Edna Lou Masicampo, all residents living within the six-kilometer danger zone of Mt. Kanlaon are urged to evacuate immediately.
For now, the city government needs to evacuate the 4,258 residents living within the six-kilometer danger zone of Mt. Kanlaon.
“If worst case scenario happens, all 23,000 households – the total population of the five barangays – will be evacuated. The challenge of the city will be the lack of manpower as well as resources in the evacuation centers,” said Masicampo.
Masicampo’s office has conducted recoreda in the affected areas, urging the residents to vacate their homes before the situation worsens.
The provincial government has sent a team from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) to Canlaon City to augment the manpower needed at the evacuation centers, as well its mobile truck and some food packs.
Masicampo said the neighboring local government units also pledged support from their remaining funds to the city.
The Department of Health (DOH) in Negros Island Region (NIR) has provided health emergency logistics to affected individuals, including 200,000 face masks, 1,000 pieces of googles, medicines, and psychosocial support.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has also initially provided 50 boxes of family food packs (FFPs) with more FFPs prepositioned in Canlaon City.
Mt. Kanlaon, a stratovolcano, sits astride the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
On Dec. 9, the volcano exploded, which generated a plume that rose 4,000 meters above the vent and drifted west-southwest due to strong winds. (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental)
