Five barangays in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental are under close monitoring following recent ash emissions from Mt. Kanlaon, a city disaster response official said on Wednesday.
Seth Bariga, information officer-designate of the Canlaon City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said trucks are on standby to evacuate residents if the situation worsens.
The five barangays — Masulog, Lumapaw, Pula, Malaiba, and Linothangan — are outside Mt. Kanlaon’s four-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) but within its six-kilometer extended PDZ.
Bariga said parts of Masulog and Pula are within the PDZ, which remains off-limits to this day. Residents of these areas are currently residing in two evacuation camps or with relatives.
“As of the moment, there are no reports of ashfall in these areas since the wind is blowing in the southeast direction,” Bariga said.
On Wednesday, Mt. Kanlaon emitted grayish ash plumes between 6:54 a.m. to 7:40 a.m., producing plumes that rose up to 100 meters above the summit crater before drifting southwest, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). A similar event was also reported on Monday.
Bariga said no damage or untoward incidents related to the volcano’s unrest have been reported so far, but barangay officials have been directed to monitor their respective areas should Kanlaon’s activity escalates.
Alert Level 2, or moderate level of volcanic unrest, prevails over Kanlaon. This indicates probable intrusion of magma at depth, which can lead to magmatic eruption, according to Phivolcs. State seismologists are closely monitoring the volcano following its string of ash emissions lately.
Based on Phivolcs’ latest volcano bulletin, there were 17 volcanic earthquakes in Kanlaon over the past 24 hours. It also emitted at least 3,370 tons of sulfur dioxide. Entry into the four-kilometer radius PDZ and flying any type of aircraft near the volcano remain prohibited.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Originally posted with the headline “Kanlaon Volcano emits fresh ash, Alert Level 2 stays.”
