PUBLIC Works Secretary Mark Villar said Friday his department will build 333 temporary bathing areas with toilets in the 56 evacuation centers for the Mayon Volcano evacuees in Daraga, Albay.
He said the project was part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions when he visited Albay to maintain cleanliness in the evacuation centers.
In other developments:
• Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chairman Anselmo Simeon Patron Pinili said Friday his agency had approved an additional P30 million for the Mt. Mayon evacuees in Albay.
Earlier, President Duterte turned over a P5-million PCSO check to the provincial government during his visit in Albay.
• Thirty out of the 60 water supply sources in the temporary shelters in Albay had tested positive for contamination, a television report said Friday.
• The Department of Agriculture will distribute plastic sheets to farmers in Albay to help protect their crops from the ash spewed by Mayon Volcano, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Friday.
“The plastic sheets will be used in setting up low-level sheds to shield growing vegetables from the ashes spewed by Mayon Volcano,” Piñol said in a statement.
State volcanologists said Mayon Volcano had been exhibiting a greater number of small but consecutive lava fountaining and ash explosions.
At past 9 p.m. on Thursday, the restive volcano again spewed lava, pyroclastic flow that caused rockfalls. The lava fountain it produced generated an ash plume 1.25 kilometers high.
The volcano’s eruption volume has reached 45 million cubic meters”•enough volcanic material to fill 18,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
“There is pressure underneath the volcano,” said Paul Alanis, a science research specialist with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Duterte had given P20 million but he said he would pledge another P50 million for food and sanitation in the evacuation centers.
Villar said the immediate construction of toilets would help address the need for hygiene and sanitation facilities in the evacuation camps.
During a Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council meeting, government agencies agreed they would manage the evacuation camps in the city or municipalities affected by Mayon Volcano.
Public Works will also manage the operations of the nine public schools and relocation centers for the evacuees fleeing Mount Mayon.