2,700 families affected by Mt. Bulusan ashfall

By Cet Dematera

Some 2,784 families or 13,920 persons were affected when ashfall blanketed their villages in Juban and Irosin in Sorsogon when Bulusan Volcano had a 17-minute long phreatic eruption on Sunday (June 5) morning, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol reported.

OCD-Bicol chief Claudio Yucot said that those affected by ashfall and pungent smell were residents of Barangays Bolos, Cogon and Gulang-Gulang in Irosin; and Putting Sapa, Buraburan, Bacolod, Aniog, Guruyan, Calmayon and Catanosan, all in Juban.

Yucot said classes in elementary schools were suspended due to heavy ashfall in the villages of Bacolod, Aniog, Buraburan, and Putting Sapa in Juban.

“All elementary schools in these villages suspended their classes,” Yucot said.

He said that damages in agriculture had reached over P20 million, particularly crops and palay blanketed by hot ashfall.

The Bureau of Fire Protection also did road clearings of ashfall that hit the major thoroughfares in Irosin and Juban towns, OCD-Bicol said.

Food packs and non-food items, such as tents, were already provided to the affected families by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), amounting to P2.3 million.

“While some 25, 069 family food packs amounting to P12million are already ready at DSWD’s warehouses in Bicol,” Yucot said.

OCD-Bicol, Sorsogon disaster officials and state volcanologists said they are closely watching the abnormal characteristics of Bulusan Volcano before additional contingencies would be carried out.