BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA and ADRIAN STEWART CO
BACOLOD City – Mt. Kanlaon remains at Alert Level 1. Some 18 families in Bago City, Negros Occidental were evacuated.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Wednesday these residents were transferred to a school as a precautionary measure.
Alert Level 1 means the volcano is at an abnormal condition and has entered a period of unrest.
Bago City Councilor and SP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Chairman Councilor Jozsef Mark Dexter Somcio, said 50 individuals who flee home are residents of Sitio Harab in the said barangay. The said sitio sits below a cliff.
Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office head Dr. Merijene Ortizo, said they called for the evacuation due to the danger of landslides and rockslides which were being triggered by the earthquake.
Ortizo also reported that there were no reported damages or casualties caused by the recent earthquakes.
Aside from Barangay Ilijan, residents of the neighboring Barangay Mailum, also reported landslides in their area during the 4.7 magnitude earthquake last Monday.
However, authorities in the barangay reported no casualties and no damages to either crops or livestock in the area.
Kanlaon Volcano continued its unrest after it emitted white steam-laden plumes that rose 300 meters, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In its advisory on Wednesday morning, the PHIVOLCS said the emission in the last 24 hours indicates that hydrothermal or magmatic activity is occurring beneath the edifice.
It added that a total of 38 volcano-tectonic earthquakes were recorded from the western flanks of the volcano, including a 3.6 magnitude at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, which was felt at Intensity III in La Carlota City and at Intensity II in Bago City, Negros Occidental.
“Activity at the vent consisted of moderate emission of white steam-laden plumes that rose 300 meters before drifting southwest. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission was measured at an average of 438 tonnes per day on 13 June 2020,” said Phivolcs.
“Ground deformation data from continuous GPS measurements indicate a slight deflation of the lower and mid slopes since January 2020. Short-term electronic tilt monitoring on the southeastern flanks recorded continuing deflation on the lower slopes but inflation on the mid slopes since April 2020,” it added.
Alert level 1, out of a maximum of 5, remains raised, indicating that the volcano is in “an abnormal condition and has entered a period of unrest.”
Phivolcs on Tuesday recorded 104 volcano-tectonic earthquakes from the western flanks of Kanlaon during the 24-hour observation period. It also observed “weak emission of white steam-laden plumes” that rose up to 300 meters before drifting northwest and southeast.
Entry into the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone is strictly prohibited due to further possibilities of sudden and hazardous steam-driven or phreatic eruptions.
Civil aviation authorities were also urged to advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ejecta as materials spewed into the air from any sudden phreatic eruption can be dangerous to aircraft. (With PNA/PN)
