OCD wants danger zone around Mt. Kanlaon widened
BACOLOD CITY—The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) may further expand the permanent danger zone surrounding Mt. Kanlaon on Negros Island from 6 kilometers to 10 km if heavy rains continue in Western Visayas.
“We are keeping a close watch on (state weather reports) that would be the trigger for a massive evacuation,” OCD Western Visayas regional director Raul Fernandez, who chairs Task Force Kanlaon, said on Thursday.
An expansion would mean thousands more who would be displaced amid concerns raised by local governments about the mounting cost of caring for the current evacuees who fled their communities due to the explosion on Dec. 9 of Mt. Kanlaon, which straddles the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
Fernandez said they were still consulting with concerned government agencies, noting that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) had yet to recommend the expansion of the danger zone.
“But preparatory work for an expanded evacuation is underway to ensure that we are ready for the worst-case scenario. [This] is just advanced planning so if a mass evacuation from the [expanded] 10-km danger zone is needed, it can immediately be executed,” he said.
“If an explosion happens during a storm there could be a lot of casualties if they are not prepared. We want to avoid having casualties,” he added.
Alert level
But La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalandoon said it would be difficult to convince residents to evacuate if Phivolcs would not raise Mt. Kanlaon’s alert level from 3 (high level of volcanic unrest) to 4 (hazardous eruption imminent).
“If alert level 4 is raised and evacuation from the 10-km radius is ordered, it will mean evacuating 10,000 to 15,000 more residents from five La Carlota barangays,” he said.
There are 6,282 evacuees in La Castellana, 470 in Bago City and 1,518 in La Carlota City, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported.
If alert level 4 is raised and lives are put in danger, then the city government has no choice but to evacuate residents, Jalandoon said.
Mari Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory in La Carlota, said the Phivolcs had recommended evacuation only within the 6-km danger zone.
The Phivolcs warned that prolonged and heavy rainfall might generate lahar while sediment-laden streamflows may occur along the Tamburong Creek in Biak-na-bato, and Baji-Baji Falls and Talaptapan Creek in Cabacungan, La Castellana.
The OCD reported that mud streams were observed along the waterways of Cabacungan and Biak-na-Bato in La Castellana following moderate rainfall on Thursday.
Fernandez said a low-pressure area off Mindanao poses a risk of lahar flow on Negros Island.
“Based on the assessment of Phivolcs, there’s still a huge possibility of an explosive eruption anytime. This is based on the volcanic activity that is ongoing, including volcanic earthquakes,” Fernandez said.
He said an explosion happening together with a typhoon would be dangerous as it would trigger heavy lahar flow.
