By Johnny Dayang
THE escalating Mayon volcano eruption in Albay, now at Alert Level 4, just one notch below the maximum level, has displaced over 80,000 Albayanos. Most of them now suffer discomfort in classroom evacuation centers and makeshift huts and tents without the needed vital facilities. Their pressing need for assistance has assumed serious dimensions and urgency.
The Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Council’s records show the number of evacuees housed in evacuation centers stands at 79,121 persons belonging to 21,693 families. Several thousands more have taken refuge in homes of relatives outside the danger zone.
Understandably, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda whose 2nd District constituents account for nearly half of the evacuees, has appealed to kind-hearted friends and organizations for immediate help for the evacuees. Having been Albay governor for nine years before he returned to Congress in 2016, he knows first hand how Albayanos suffer when calamities strike. Aside from Mayon’s periodic eruptions, Albay is also ravaged by strong typhoons year after year.
Hopefully, Salceda’s appeal will get immediate response. When he was governor, he promptly dispatched food, water purifiers, medical teams, funds and other assistance to other regions, provinces and cities battered by calamities.
Mayon’s current eruption is a good opportunity for some local government units and other Filipinos to reciprocate what Albay and Albayanos have done for them before.
“We appeal to kind-hearted individuals and organizations to please assist our evacuees with their basic necessities so they can go through their ordeal, even as Albay’s DNA is resiliency – the Albayano strength of character and knack for survival that have been proven many times over, but not without support from kind-hearted friends,” Salceda pleads.
The evacuees need steady supply of food, drinking water, gas masks, etc. since no one can tell when the eruption would end. In past Mayon eruptions, evacuees remained in evacuation centers for months. In 2006 and 2009, the evacuation period lasted 147 and 185 days, respectively.
Indeed the national government will be wise to help LGUs, especially in calamity-prone areas, in building permanent evacuation centers, since natural calamities are becoming more frequent, devastating and violent. Albay has a number of such facilities built during Salceda’s stint as governor with assistance from the Spanish government, but obviously, they are not enough. Albay’s evacuation facilities also serve as classrooms when there are no evacuees.