LEGAZPI CITY—Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda has reiterated his appeal for relief assistance and donations for evacuees of the escalating Mayon Volcano eruption, saying the situation “has now assumed serious urgency.”
Partial records of the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Council show that the number of evacuees stands at 79,121 persons belonging to 21,693 families as of Jan. 26. Several thousands more have taken refuge in homes of relatives outside the volcano’s danger zone.
The government has raised Mayon’s danger level category to Alert Level 4 and extended its danger zone perimeter to nine kilometers.
Salceda said the evacuees, now housed in various government evacuation centers around the province, need help that would augment limited local resources, even as the Department of Social Welfare and Development has started distributing relief assistance.
The lawmaker said there is a need for a steady supply of food, drinking water, gas masks and other relief assistance, especially since no one can tell when the calamity would end.
In past Mayon eruptions, evacuees were compelled to remain in evacuation centers for months. In 2006, the evacuation period lasted 147 days, and in 2009 it was 185 days.
The evacuees come from identified risk areas around Mayon. Of their total number, 10,000 families or 38,188 individuals come from Legazpi City (4,076 families/15,530 persons), Daraga (3,296/13,305), and Camalig (2,979/11,218) – all in the second district that Salceda serves.
The other evacuees are from Guinobatan (3,147/10,724), Tabaco City (1,701/6750), Sto. Domingo (2,853/11,292), Ligao City (1,332/5,755), Mililipot (1,261/4,926), and Bacacay (124/559).
The Team Albay Youth Organization Inc., a group under Salceda’s Albay Second District Office, now accepts relief donations for the evacuees. Donors can contact TAYO Inc., at its address at Door 2, Citispire Bldg., Imelda Roces Avenue, Gogon, Legazpi City, with telephone number 0927 665 4715.
Donors may also deposit their cash donations to TAYO’s Metrobank account with Account Number: 595-7-59500460-4. For Legazpi, donors can contact Mayor Noel Rosal (09175581777); Daraga Vice Mayor Carlwyn Baldo (0918 963 7372), and Teresa Bausa at (09392041088); for Camalig through Mayor Ding Baldo or call 09178500235.
“We urge and appeal to kindhearted individuals and organizations to please assist our evacuees with their necessities so that they can go through this calamity easier, even as Albay’s DNA is resiliency – the Albayano strength of character and knack for survival that have been proven many times over, but not without support from kind individuals and humanitarian groups, as this kind of disaster normally takes longer periods of time,” Salceda appealed.