Bulusan evacuees start going home

LEGAZPI CITY — Evacuees whose houses were not under immediate threat except in case of a major eruption of the Bulusan volcano had started to go home yesterday after disaster control officials, including volcanologists, had announced that there is no immediate threat yet of a big eruption that may trigger the deadly pyroclastic flow.

Arnel Capili, OCD-Bicol director, said that some 200 persons, most of whom were from Irosin, Sorsogon, had already gone back to their homes after they had taken refuge at the temporary evacuation centers in the poblacion when heavy downpour that started Sunday morning loosened lahars into the river channels and gullies surrounding the volcano.

"In fact, based on our latest meeting this afternoon with concerned local government officials, we are contemplating to send home all those people whose houses are not in immediate threat of mudflows or pyroclastic flows," Capili told The STAR after meeting with LGU officials and personnel of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) yesterday.

He said some evacuees left their homes for fear of pyroclastic flows that could only be present in case of a full-blown eruption of Mt. Bulusan.

"Since Phivolcs personnel’s latest re-assessment showed that there is no immediate threat yet for a major eruption, we might as well send them home," Capili said.

The number of evacuees rose to 2,027 the other day as fear of life-threatening lahar or mudflows were spurred by heavy rains that triggered a spillover of mud and debris in some river tributaries in the towns of Casiguran, Juban and Irosin.

Capili said his office had already sent two geographic information system (GIS) experts in Sorsogon to come up with a plan should the Bulusan volcano finally erupt.

Meanwhile, government volcanologists disclosed that there are about 44,000 to 45,000 cubic meters of volcanic ash on the slopes of the volcano.

Ed Laguerta, Phivolcs scientist, said since March 22, the volcano has already spewed ash nine times, blanketing lowland villages at the slopes of the 1,500-meter volcano.

Heavy rains over the weekend brought about by tropical storm "Domeng" dislodged rock and boulders, forcing villagers living in Barangay Cogon in Irosin town to evacuate. — With Celso Amo