Daytime entry to Kanlaon’s danger zone resumes

CALM FOR NOW Mt. Kanlaon is deceptively calm as seen from La Castellana town in Negros Occidental on Friday. —Marvin Escander/contributor

BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — Task Force Kanlaon has lifted the ban on the daytime entry into Mt. Kanlaon’s 6-kilometer extended danger zone (EDZ) starting May 31.

The lifting of the ban gives evacuated residents a 10-hour daily window, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., to return to their homes to carry out farming and other essential activities.

This will allow affected residents to earn money for their basic needs, including the education of their children.

The task force had suspended the 10-hour entry window on May 28 to 30 due to heightened volcanic earthquakes, raising fears of another impending eruption at Mt. Kanlaon.

READ: Kanlaon emits 978 tons of sulfur dioxide; Alert Level 3 continues

Raul Fernandez, Task Force Kanlaon chair, in his memorandum lifting the suspension, noted that a Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) bulletin on May 30 recorded only 12 volcanic earthquakes with a sulfur dioxide flux of 1,012 tons.

Phivolcs also reported 10 volcanic earthquakes and a sulfur dioxide flux of 809 tons from 12 a.m. Saturday to 12 a.m. Sunday, June 1.

However, Mt. Kanlaon is still on alert level 3 (state of intensified unrest or magmatic unrest) that was raised following a major eruption on Dec. 9 last year.

At last 5,000 residents from Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental who live in villages within the EDZ have been staying in shelters since last December. ­—Carla P. Gomez