In less than 24 hours, nearly 1,000 residents in Batangas have left their homes to seek safer shelters amid the continued unrest of Taal Volcano, a disaster management official disclosed Saturday, July 3.
Lito Castro, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) in Batangas, said the number of evacuues has increased to 2,429 Saturday noon from 1,495 Friday night.
"Mayroon na tayong recorded na tumaas na bilang ng evacuees at ine-expect namin na tumaas pa. Pero nakita namin na maraming hindi pumunta sa evacuation centers kundi nagpunta lang sa mga kamag-anak nila. Iyon ang nilo-locate namin (We have recorded an increase in the number of evacuues and we expect that it will continue to rise. But we have observed that many residents still refused to go to evacuation centers and instead went to their relatives. We are trying to locate them)," he said in a radio interview over DZBB.
Local government officials in Batangas were also reviewing policies to establish "window hours" in communities near Taal Volcano where fisherfolks will be allowed to go back to their homes temporarily to attend to their livelihood.
Castro said some residents in high-risk areas, or those within the seven-km danger zone, still chose to stay at their homes to feed and harvest their fishpens, the primary source of livelihood in the province.
He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has issued a directive to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Batangas to limit the entry of people in the high-risk areas, particularly in the towns of Agoncillo and Laurel.
"Nire-repaso namin ang polisiya sa pamamagitan ng Protected Area Management Board kung saan magkakaroon ng restrictions ng activities sa lawa. Nire-review namin kung paano ang pagbibigay ng window hours para makapagpakain sila ng isda dahil malaking industriya ito (We are polishing the policies through the Protected Area Management Board where we will restrict some activities in the Lake. We will review how we can put up window hours to allow them to feed their fish because it is considered a big industry)," he noted.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson Mark Timbal said Taal Volcano was "relatively peaceful" as of Saturday.
"Activities in the volcano lake are suspended. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) prohibits the sailing in the area," he said.
Taal continues to emit gases up to 10,000 tons per day and small phreatomagmatic (magma and steam) explosions with a height of 200 meters were observed by the Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Castro said. There was also a continued gas upswelling in the volcano, he added.
Livestock evacuation sites
Meanwhile, Timbal said that "livestock evacuation sites" were established so residents will be able to put their farm animals in safe places.
He said residents may bring their farm aimals to the following livestock evacuation sites: Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office (DA-RFO 4A); Lipa City dog pound; Cuenca Demo Farm; Rosario (Tiquiwan); Tanauan City dog pound; Nasugbu Demo Farm; Rosario (Leviste); Padre Garcia (Payapa); and Livestock Oksyon Market.
Residents are advised to coordinate with the Batangas Provincial Veterinary Office in the evacuation of their farm animals through the hotline: 0948-037-8123.
Relief supplies
As the Taal Volcano's rumbling entered its second day, more relief supplies were sent by the NDRRMC to evacuation centers to ensure that the needs evacuues will be addressed.
Timbal said 5,000 family food packs were delivered at the Batangas Sports Complex Grandstand; 300 family tents and 2,000 family food packs to Laurel municipality. Some 1,500 family food packs will also be delivered to Agoncillo municipality by the OCD.
He said the Department of Health has also delivered augmentation supplies of N95 masks, surgical facemasks, and other medical supplies and equipment to the Provincial Health Office of Batangas for distribution to various evacuation sites.
The rollout of a COVID-19 vaccination for responders and evacuees is also being prepared by the DOH to protect them from the viral disease, Timbal said.
"This vaccination activity will still follow the prioritization arrangement," he said.