BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Local officials in La Castellana, a sleepy town two hours south of here, are bracing for a major eruption of the long dormant Kanlaon Volcano a month after it had a phreatic eruption that sent kilometers of ash spewing from the mountain that has the highest peak in the Visayas islands and triggering mudflows that flowed into croplands days later.
“Life is starting to return to normal but we know we cannot keep our guard down,” town official Remuel Lajo told DNX as he voiced worries about the latest bulletin today of State monitor PHIVOLCS that noted an increased swelling of the ground on the volcano’s edifice.
A month after the 3 June explosion of Kanlaon, the first after its last phreatic one, also in the month of June 2016, Lajo, concurrent information and tourism officer, said there is still a handful of people left in temporary shelters who have not been allowed to go back to their homes within the Permanent Danger Zone, a four-kilometer area around the volcano.
Sometimes, however, they are allowed to check on their crops and animals, their main income sources, during daytime only, Lajo added.
Concerns over the volcano that had shown lowered seismic activities from a high of 90 a day to only three this month were renewed today after the official monitor Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said the inflation of the volcano’s edifice or main part.
The advisory issued this morning of 15 July 2024, noted a “pronounced increase” in the inflation or swelling of the Kanlaon volcano edifice for the past month.
It added Electronic Distance Meter (EDM) measurements tracked by its Kanlaon Observatory showed “an abrupt order of magnitude shortening of campaign EDM lines on the middle and southwestern slopes that began on 18 June 2024 and” has become sustained since then.”
The report also said the volcano has been undergoing slow but sustained inflation or swelling since 2022″ indicating “a long term pressurization within the volcano” which, combined with other factors “could further indicate that magmatic intrusion could be taking place, warning of increased chances of eruptive activity taking place.”
Meanwhile, Capitol disaster chief Irene Bel Plotena told DNX Capitol has readied plans in preparation for a major explosion of Kanlaon.
The plans include the prepositioning of foodstuff for towns and cities usually affected by the explosion and the holding of an information campaign for residents, especially those in danger zones who might not immediately cooperate with government measures like preemptive evacuation.
