US troops rush to Mayon as villagers brace for lahar

LEGAZPI CITY - United States officials arrived here yesterday to aid tens of thousands of people displaced by the eruption of Mayon volcano.

This developed as the entire Bicol Region braced for deadly lahar flows from hills packed with tons of rain-soaked debris.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said US forces taking part in joint military exercises in the country would install water filtration systems to give a lifeline to communities whose tap water sources have been contaminated by volcanic ash.

"The American forces that are here have volunteered to set up tent cities and also turn over water purifiers for use in the evacuation centers," Mercado said.

A 19-member advance party of US military officials and diplomats arrived here yesterday and toured several government-run evacuation camps. They also held talks with local government officials and heads of relief agencies.

US Marine Col. Charles Rushworth said the team will "provide assessment and make recommendations on whatever assistance the US can provide."

The one-day mission was dispatched by US Ambassador Thomas Hubbard as 2,000 American troops are winding up their month-long joint military exercises with Filipino soldiers.

The move was ironic, however, since it was the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales in 1991 which caused US troops to abandon their bases at Subic Bay and Clark Field in Pampanga.

President Estrada, who is in Davao City, hailed the US support, though, particularly its donations of tents and water filtration equipment for displaced villagers in Albay. He assured the Americans that his government is doing everything to help those affected by the eruption.

"There is nothing to worry about. The government will never neglect these people," he said.

The cone-shaped Mayon erupted anew shortly after midnight Tuesday, ejecting a 14-kilometer-high ash column, and spilling flaming lava down its slope.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said pyroclastic materials flowed on all sides of the volcano and reached about five to six kilometers from the crater.

Some 83,000 people have been displaced by the volcano's continual eruption the past five days.

Volcanologist Eduardo Laguerta said more will be displaced as rains could trigger an avalanche of ash, rocks, boulders and lava from the slopes of the volcano and from surrounding hillsides.

Laguerta estimates that Mayon has so far extruded 4.5 billion cubic meters of these pyroclastic materials since last week.

Weathermen here forecast rain for the next three days.

Officials warned residents of the villages of Bonga and Anoling near here and of the entire town of Guinobatan and portions of Camalig and Ligao towns to evacuate at once as rain could dislodge the volcanic debris and trigger a mudslide.

Filipinos have learned from bitter experience with the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo that rainwater and volcanic debris are a deadly mix. The cocktail, known as lahar, continues to bring death and destruction in communities in Pampanga.

The potential lahar from Mayon could also cut off roads around this city, choking the supply of relief goods, Albay relief official Cedric Daep said.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara said the police had already cordoned off villages threatened by lahar flows as early as last week, but large numbers of residents have returned periodically to tend their fields and feed their farm animals.

Bichara said their priority now was to move out some 60,000 people from Guinobatan town, which is near the southern slope of Mayon. The town received the brunt of the ashfall over the past two days.

Meanwhile, life goes on for the thousands of people who have converted school classrooms into their temporary homes.

In Bagumbayan Central School here, teacher Salome Esperado continued with her day's science lesson for first graders in a room now being used also as eating and sleeping quarters by evacuees.

Her subject yesterday was appropriately volcanoes. And she did not need any props since looming large on the horizon outside the classroom is the majestic hulk of Mayon.

There are now more than 2,600 evacuees in the said school which has shortened its classes and time spent on each subject.

Another teacher, Milagros Lava, said her students had to clean the floor before classes could begin. The floor at night is covered by sleeping bodies, and desks are used as beds in the narrow corridors.

As many as 90 evacuees sleep in each of the school's classrooms. Despite the congestion, there have been no deaths from diseases at the school.

The school's principal has been tasked to issue ration cards for rice, noodles and canned food while the school's nurse and the clinic have been turned into community health worker and center.

To keep evacuees occupied in the evenings, the government has scheduled games, movies and even karaoke sessions.

And although officials plan to open more evacuation centers, the situation is not expected to ease soon.

Volcanologists say Mayon will likely follow its historical trends and remain active for one to two months. --