DILG says evacuation protocols stays amid Taal Volcano rumbling
By Chito Chavez
Police forces and other government agencies are continuously monitoring the activities of the Taal Volcano as part of the measures to protect local residents of Batangas amid threats of destructive eruption after it was placed under Alert Level 3 status.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that based on their latest data, a total of 3,825 individuals or 1,153 families living near the Taal Volcano in Batangas were temporarily evacuated.
Año said that 527 fire trucks, 22 rescue trucks, 23 ambulances and seven watercrafts are on standby along with emergency medical service personnel and search and rescue retrieval teams.
“Ang Philippine National Police naman ay nag-deploy ng search and rescue retrieval teams na binubuo ng 2,716 personnel, at ang ating reactionary standby support force na umaabot sa 553 personnel (A total of 2,716 personnel from the Philippine National Police search and rescue retrieval team are deployed and our reactionary standby support force has reached 553 personnel),’’ Año reported.
At present, Año disclosed that Taal Volcano has slightly calmed down and hopefully the situation further improves so that the Alert Level can be downgraded.
On March 30, PHIVOLCS said that Alert Level 3 will remain in effect in Taal Volcano after four volcanic quakes were recorded in the past 24 hours.
In its report of the observation from 5 a.m. on March 29 to 5. a.m. on March 30, PHIVOLCS noted that the volcanic tremors lasted two to five minutes with low level background quakes as the volcano emitted 4,474 tonnes of sulfur dioxide.
The DILG chief in the same briefing which lasted until the following day explained that the distribution of the ayuda (cash aid) to the beneficiaries affected by Typhoon Odette ws suspended due to the election period in compliance with the Commission on Election (Comelec) Resolution No. 10747.
He assured that the disbursement of the ayuda will resume after the election period.
On the status of the financial assistance distribution, P4.3 billion out of the P4.8 billion allocated for the purpose has already been given to the 4,156,492 qualified recipients for an 89.10 percent distribution rate. (Chito A. Chavez)