Home at last for Mayon evacuees outside of danger zone

By Ernie Delgado

LEGAZPI CITY --- After spending seven months in evacuation centers, about 4,800 residents of Albay who had to leave their villages near the danger zone of the Philippines’ most active volcano were finally able to return home on Thursday, August 6.

Their return followed the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology’s (Phivolcs) decision on August 5 to lower the alert status of Mayon Volcano from Level 3 (indicating an increased tendency towards hazardous eruption) to Level 2 (indicating a moderate level of unrest), which was imposed due to volcanic activity that began in early January.

Albay Governor Noel Rosal announced on Wednesday that families residing in evacuation centers located in the cities of Ligao and Tabaco, as well as the towns of Camalig, Malilipot, and Guinobatan, could begin returning home starting Thursday morning.

A total of 4,108 individuals, comprising 1,131 families, had been evacuated from those areas on January 6 after Phivolcs raised the alert level to 3.

In an advisory, Oscar Robert Cristobal, the head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo), said Rosal’s order for the decampment of all evacuation centers housing families displaced by Mayon’s effusive eruption should be carried out by city and municipal governments.

In Malilipot town, Mayor Cenon Volante announced that 405 families were returning to their homes in the villages of Calbayog, San Roque, and Canaway, which are outside the permanent danger zone.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has deployed personnel to oversee the decampment process.

“DSWD Field Office 5’s role in the current decampment is to ensure that the homecoming of our evacuees goes smoothly,” Michael Gerome Bellena, the DSWD chief administrative officer for Bicol, said in Filipino.

Bellena said that the DSWD would provide food packages sufficient for 15 days for the returning evacuees.

“We will provide five family food packs to each family. Each food pack is enough to last three days,” he said.

“People are already packing, and we can see that they are truly excited to return to their homes after spending seven months in evacuation areas,” said Leslie Benbing, an information officer for DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations. (PIA Bicol)

An evacuee from the village of Anoling in Camalig, Albay, loads family food packs onto his motorcycle. The food packs were provided to his family by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure their immediate needs are met during the transition period as they return home. (Image from the DSWD Field Office 5)