‘Kanlaon ash emissions will now be called eruptions’

[ NDRRMC 01:25PM, January 27, 2025 Advisory: Lahat ay pinag-iingat sa maaaring pagpatak ng abo na ibinuga ng Bulkang Kanlaon patungong kanluran (west) dakong 01:01 ng hapon. ]

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) will now call ash emissions of Kanlaon volcano as eruptions.

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday that, “whether it’s a major or minor one, (the ash emission) will still be called as an eruption,” Lacson said.

He said that the agency earlier said that before Kanlaon volcano calms down “it will have a culminating activity.”

However, the Phivolcs did not say whether it is a lava flow or a firework, Lacson said, adding that “it will come to a point that the alert level will be increased.”

“They are saying that for sure there will be a major activity before it calms down. The ongoing ash emissions are not considered the activity that will eventually calm down Kanlaon volcano,” the governor pointed out.

He added that before the alert level, it will be raised first that would cover a longer distance of up to 14 kilometers.

Mari-Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Mt. Kanlaon Observatory in Negros Occidental, in a separate interview, said that the increased emissions is an indication of the clogging of the conduit of the volcano.

“There is a building of pressure inside the volcano,” she said.

Lacson cited a report of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office that (Alert Level 4) will affect 37,000 individuals.

“Some of the local government units that are expected to be affected have reached an agreement with LGUs which will not be affected. They are looking at Yolanda housing projects in northern Negros Occidental. They are inspecting the conditions of the housing. During the COVID-19 pandemic some of the units were awarded. Others are already dilapidated as no one is maintaining them,” he said.

Lacson said the local government of La Castellana prefers that the evacuees will be moved to an area just near their town.

The tent city in neighboring Himamaylan City is being constructed that will cater to 500 individuals, he said.

The Department of Health in the Negros Island Region reported that as of January 27, the eruption of Kanlaon volcano has affected 2,909 families composed of 9,291 persons in 20 evacuation centers.

A total of 8,922 families have been affected with 29,207 individuals affected.* (EYA)