Half of Sorsogon evacuees can return home

LEGAZPI CITY — About half of the remaining 1,700 Sorsogon folk who had evacuated due to Mt. Bulusan’s unrest have been advised to return to their villages since the volcano has remained "quiet."

The different disaster control offices, headed by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and officials of the towns directly affected by Mt. Bulusan’s abnormal condition reached this decision as the volcano showed no signs of further restiveness.

Except for a small explosion-type earthquake that occurred at 2:06 a.m. and lasted for four minutes and two volcanic quakes, Bulusan remained "quiet" during the past 24-hour observation period, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a bulletin.

Even the volcanic plume or sulfur dioxide emission dropped to 597 tons per day compared to 942 tons per day last June 26, Phivolcs said.

Despite this, the institute maintained its warning to residents not to venture within the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone and to "approach with caution" or avoid areas beyond but adjacent to the danger zone due to "potentially life-threatening mudflows or lahars."

Those advised to return home, however, were told to immediately go back to the evacuation centers should the Phivolcs raise Bulusan’s alert level to 3.

Those advised to go home are majority of the evacuees staying at evacuation centers in Juban and Irosin towns.

On the other hand, 76 families from Sitio Oroc in Barangay Inlagadian, Casiguran town, and 40 others from Barangay Mapaso in Irosin were advised to remain because their houses are located some 3.7 kilometers away from the foot of the volcano or within the permanent danger zone.

Meanwhile, Casiguran Mayor Edwin Hamor has formed a committee to study the setting up of a permanent evacuation center in his town.

He earlier identified a 20-hectare property once used as a national jamboree site some 12 kilometers away from Mt. Bulusan as an ideal permanent relocation area since it already has water and lighting facilities. — With Celso Amo and Sheila Crisostomo