Bacolod City – The Provincial Health Office is deploying additional health care personnel at evacuation centers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, following the deaths of two infants over the past two months.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Girlie Pinongan disclosed that personnel of PHO, Municipal Health Office, and the Department of Health Center for Health and Development – Negros Island Region will have respective schedules to ensure round the clock monitoring of the health of evacuees.
A 9-month-old baby at the evacuation center in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, was admitted at a nearby government hospital and died on January 25, bringing to two the number of fatalities among residents affected by last month’s eruption of Kanlaon volcano.
On December 9 last year, a nine-month-old male infant at the evacuation center, a resident of Barangay Masulog, La Castellana, also succumbed to cardiopulmonary arrest due to acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration.
Pinongan admitted that some evacuation centers are congested, which may trigger the spread of infectious diseases.
The augmentation of health personnel in the evacuation centers, according to Pinongan, is also aimed at addressing with immediate solutions the health needs of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
At present, DOH-CHD-NIR has deployed a total of 140 doctors, nurses, medical and technical staff at 18 evacuation centers in La Castellana, cities of Bago, La Carlota, and San Carlos in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
As of January 29, the top leading causes of consultations among IDPs were acute respiratory infection – 29, hypertension – 12, and three for acute watery diarrhea, DOH reports said.
Meanwhile, The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology disclosed over the weekend, that the present activities of Kanlaon volcano does not yet warrant an increase of its alert level, contrary to some media reports.
According to Ma. Antonia Bornas, PHIVOLCS Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division (VMEPD) chief, the drop in volcanic emissions, especially sulfur dioxide, is only one of the key parameters for monitoring an active volcano.
There have been claims being circulated that the sulfur dioxide emissions coming from Kanlaon Volcano, which recently started to drop, may indicate an imminent explosion.
Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Kanlaon Volcano.
PHIVOLCS logged 1,691 tons of SO2 emissions on January 28, which have increased in the succeeding days.
Bornas said that the Alert Level 4 scenario may be considered if there is a rapid volcanic inflation, as detected by all their stations, continuing earthquakes, and fluctuation of SO2 emissions.
She described the June 3 and December 9, 2024 activities of Kanlaon Volcano as “mildly explosive eruptions.”
However, the Office of the Civil Defense is preparing for the worst case scenario, where if Alert Level 4 were declared, about 100,000 residents will be affected by an eruption of Kanlaon.
The establishment of a tent city for La Castellana evacuees is now in progress at Himamaylan City, while the concerned local government unit is also exploring other LGUs in northern Negros to shelter its evacuees.
On the other hand, Canlaon City is looking at Vallehermoso and neighboring LGUs in Negros Oriental to shelter its residents who may be affected by an eruption.
In the past 24 hours, Phivolcs recorded three ash eruptions of 17 to 98 minutes long, and nine volcanic earthquakes, including three volcanic tremors. It also logged the emission of 3,385 tons of SO2 on Jan. 30, reaching as high as 100 meters from the summit of the volcano. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star)