Albay seeks gov't aid to support nearly 40k Mayon evacuees

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1021875
• Thursday, January 18, 2018

By Rhaydz Barcia (PNA)

LEGAZPI CITY -- The local government in Albay is appealing for help from the national government to support the almost 40,000 people temporarily staying in evacuation camps since Saturday due to the restiveness of Mayon Volcano.

Cedric Daep, chief of Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office (APSEMO), said the province has insufficient funds to support the needs of the evacuees.

“We’re conducting a series of meetings and preparations to support the displaced families.

Unfortunately, there is no sufficient budget. We need the intervention of the national government,” Daep said Tuesday afternoon, even as Albay had been placed under a state of calamity.

The cities of Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao and the towns of Camalig, Guinobatan, Daraga, Sto. Domingo and Malilipot are affected by Mayon Volcano’s restiveness since Saturday.

Some 9,291 families or 37,739 people from 36 barangays fled their home as the volcano’s activity intensified. They are now housed in 391 classrooms in different schools in the affected areas.

The town of Camalig has the biggest number of evacuees with 1,946 families or 7,297 people; followed by Daraga with 1,189 families or an equivalent of 4,994 people; Guinobatan with 1,241 families or 4,353 persons; Malilipot with 773 families or 2,909 people and Sto. Domingo, 590 families or 2,770 persons.

Among the three cities of Albay, Legazpi has 2,610 families or 11,522 people evacuated followed by Ligao City with 429 families or 1,921 and Tabaco City with 513 families or 1,973 people.

The number of evacuees is expected to increase in the coming days, according to Daep.

Mayon Volcano is continuously exhibiting abnormalities and remains under Alert Level 3.

Ed Laguerta, chief volcanologist in Bicol said that its eruption was classified as vulcanian, associated with magmatic eruption.

He added that they are considering raising the alert level of Mayon from level 3 to level 4 once the needed parameters exhibited by the restive volcano are noted.

Due to pyroclastic flows and ash fall, Governor Al Francis Bichara ordered the municipalities of Camalig and Guinobatan and Ligao City to conduct localized suspension of classes in all levels in both public and private schools.

Meanwhile, an elderly from Barangay Buang, Tabaco City died of stroke inside the evacuation camp.

Daep said Teodolo Presia, 81, of Barangay Buang in Tabaco City died on Tuesday morning at the evacuation center in Mayon Elementary School.

“He’s an indirect casualty of Mayon Volcano,” he said.

For his part, Engr. Dante Baclao, provincial engineer of Albay, said that based on their monitoring of evacuation camps, water and sanitation including clogged toilets were the pressing issues that needed to be addressed to prevent diseases at the evacuation camps here.

The provincial health office has started water rationing in areas with big number of evacuees.