By AARON RECUENCO
LEGAZPI CITY – To ease congestion in evacuation centers, local authorities have ordered a decamp of all residents outside the eight-kilometer extended danger zone.
Claudio Yucot, director of the Office of Civil Defense of Bicol region, said he had already issued the recommendation to Albay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to identify the families who will be asked to leave the temporary shelters.
“We have seen how congested some of the evacuation centers and based on our discussions with volcanologists, it is safe to send those living outside the extended danger zone back to their homes,” said Yucot.
“So this is a solution that we see because they are going back to their homes anyway. And we understand that because there is really no substitute to the comfort of your home,” he added.
Ideally, one classroom can only accommodate between eight and 10 families. Currently, up to 30 families have been occupying one room.
Yucot said that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has given assurance that residents living nine and 10 kilometers away from the crater are safe.
Volcanologists cited the history of Mayon eruption, noting that the farthest drop of superhot pyroclastic flow is at seven kilometers away from the crater.
The additional one kilometer radius from the seven kilometer extended danger zone serves as a buffer or a precaution for worse case scenario of pyroclastic materials drop, according to Phivolcs.
Disaster officials said trucks from the police, military and local government units would fetch the evacuees and transport them back to their houses.
Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said that he will meet first with the barangay captains of the affected areas to discuss the OCD recommendation.
The meeting is aimed at explaining to the barangay captains and those who will be sent home as to why they will be sent back home.
Rosal had ordered the decamp of evacuees in Legazpi on Jan. 18 only to recall the order following the Jan. 22 eruption.
Among those who would be sent home are residents of Barangay Pawa here and some residents of Barangay Padang.
If residents refuse to go back, Yucut said they will leave it to the provincial government to decide on the matter.
Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Management Office, said they will not force the residents outside the eight-kilometer danger zone to go back.
“But they should anticipate the scenario that they may not avail some of the services there because they will be no longer considered as evacuees,” said Daep.
