More than 12,000 people were evacuated and the efforts to move as many people to safer grounds are continuing amid the threats posed by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano in the Negros Island, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday, Dec, 11.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the 12,720 people are from 3,820 families who were already evacuated by the police and the local government units in towns and other areas classified as danger zones.
“We deployed close to 400 of our personnel to assist the local government units in the conduct of preemptive evacuation. Some of our personnel were also assigned to secure the evacuation centers,” said Fajardo.
Volcanologists hoisted Alert Level 3 over Kanlaon Volcano due to ongoing volcanic activity that indicates the potential for further eruptions.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) continues to monitor ash emissions at Kanlaon Volcano, following its 24-hour monitoring period from Tuesday to Wednesday, Dec. 10 to 11. Phivolcs reported two instances of ash emissions, each lasting 11 to 39 minutes.
Fajardo said the preemptive evacuation was focused on 24 barangays that are closer to the volcano.
She explained that the PNP’s assistance came after LGUs sought help to ensure that the danger zones and other areas considered as hazardous to ash emissions and volcanic activities would be cleared.
Fajardo said part of the measures to encourage people to evacuate is the use of public addresses through policemen using megaphones.
“Our personnel have been telling the local residents that the evacuation is part of the recommendation of the concerned government agencies, that they are only given a certain period of time to get their things before proceeding to the evacuation centers,” said Fajardo.
“We also deployed some of our personnel in the entry points of these areas to ensure that those who were evacuated would not go back,” she added.
As of Wednesday, Fajardo said at least 25 evacuation centers were already occupied.
The police official said coordination are ongoing between the Police Regional Office 6 which has jurisdiction over Negros Occidental and Police Regional Office 7 which has control over Negros Oriental.