BACOLOD CITY , Philippines — Evacuees residing outside the six-kilometer permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano in Negros Occidental yesterday started returning home in La Castellana and La Carlota City.
The decision to allow up to 4,000 people to return home was made during a meeting on Tuesday among Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan, La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalandoon and Merijene Ortizo of the Bago City disaster risk reduction and management office.
Mangilimutan said that residents of Barangay Sag-ang in La Castellana were among those allowed to return home.
Task Force Kanlaon chief Raul Fernandez said he allowed concerned local chief executives to decide whether to allow their constituents to return home.
Fernandez, who is also chief of the Office of Civil Defense-Western Visayas, said that if he could have his way, he would transfer the evacuees to Himamaylan City, where a tent city is being established by the government.
Unlike in La Castellana, which has nine evacuation centers, Fernandez said there is a distribution of responsibilities in the tent city.
He said concerned local government units may share their resources and manpower in managing the camp.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded two ash emission events yesterday, one of which lasted almost two hours.
Citing Phivolcs’ analysis, Fernandez said all volcanic events indicate that the threat of eruption remains. He said it would be chaotic if the volcano erupts while people are in the danger zone.
The Office of Civil Defense is preparing for the “Plan Exodus,’’ which involves evacuating the entire population of Canlaon City in Negros Oriental in the event of another eruption.