THE local governments of the cities of Bago and San Carlos heeded the advice of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and began reviewing their disaster preparedness plans amidst the increased activity exhibited by the Mount Kanlaon volcano lately.
San Carlos City Mayor Renato Gustilo ordered the villages of Quezon and Codcod to make all necessary measures in case the situation worsens.
Even though the volcano's activity seemed to have lied-low for the past three days, Gustilo still encouraged the residents in the two barangays to ensure their readiness at the family level.
The city's Operations and Warning Division also made a quick visit to the two villages over the weekend.
During the meeting, the teams discussed with the concerned barangays the preparation and revisited the evacuation plan presented a few years ago.
The two barangays have also laid out their functional transportation, communication capacity, and budget allocation.
Also discussed in the meeting were high-risk sitios, identified evacuation sites, pick-up points, evacuation protocols and other immediate concerns.
In Bago City, Mary Jane Ortizo head of the city's Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) said they are also monitoring the volcano's activities and are releasing daily advisories in order to inform the public.
The Bago City DRRMO has also attended the pre-disaster risk assessment meeting led by the Negros Occidental Provincial DRRMO last week, which was also attended by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson.
They have also started stocking up on facemasks, food and non-food items.
Ortizo also said they are reviewing their contingency plans and have identified the villages of Ilijan and Mailom as the first to be affected in the event of a volcanic eruption.
The two barangays are located close to Kanlaon and have a combined population of more than 12,000 people.
Ortizo advised the two villages to also review their disaster plans so that they know where to evacuate.
Last week, the Municipal Government of La Castellana also made preparations in case Phivolcs escalated the alert level of the volcano.
La Castellana has already identified five possible evacuation sites, four of them are public schools while the fifth is located in the town's Barangay Talaptap.
The villages of Masulog, Biaknabato, Cabagnaan, and Mansalanao were also identified by the town's Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) that will be directly impacted in case the volcano's alert level escalates.
Phivolcs Director Dr. Renato Solidum advised the local government units surrounding the Kanlaon Volcano to review their disaster preparedness plans after the volcano continued to exhibit increased activity over the past few days.
Solidum said they currently don't see a need to increase Kanlaon's Alert Level, however, he emphasized that the local chief executives of every LGU, especially those who are newly elected and have just stepped into office, to revisit their disaster preparedness plans.
Kanlaon currently remains under Alert Level 1, and entry inside the four-kilometer danger zone is prohibited.