The government must lock down danger zones near Taal Volcano, particularly in Lemery, Agoncillo, Talisay and San Nicolas, Batangas where fissures or cracks in the ground are appearing, a lawmaker said on Wednesday.
“Strictly implement the lockdown of Lemery, and other towns where fissures are showing. Evacuate some, if not all, of the residents of high-risk areas to Metro Manila,” said ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Niña Taduran.
Taduran, an assistant majority leader, also asked Metro Manila mayors to open their gyms, and other evacuation centers, and to lend their tents and survival kits to the Batangas evacuees.
She issued the statement after she and ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap personally witnessed the situation of the evacuees in San Luis, Batangas, where they distributed relief goods and face masks.
“Marikina and Makati have modular tents. Other local governments have empty gyms that can accommodate more evacuees. It is safer for the evacuees to be in Metro Manila where there’s water and electricity, and where help is readily available,” said Taduran.
“Phivolcs [Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology] said that the fissures which are currently emerging in the said towns are the same cracks that appeared before the 1911 eruption of Taal Volcano. Shouldn’t we learn from this experience? Evacuate everyone. Get them out now before it’s too late. Arrest anyone who will defy the lockdown,” she added.
She said the fissures should be marked for future comprehensive land use plan.
Evacuation centers
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte has sought anew the construction of permanent evacuation centers in places most vulnerable to natural disasters, following the continued eruption of Taal Volcano that has forced over 50,000 Batangas and Cavite residents to flee to temporary shelters, elsewhere.
“Taal Volcano’s continuing activity, which has sent thousands of families abandoning their homes in search of safer grounds, gives all the more reason for the concerned government agencies to fast-track President Duterte’s proposal on the ‘simultaneous’ construction of permanent evacuation centers,” said Villafuerte.
Duterte bared this plan during a situation briefing for the President in Batangas City, following Taal Volcano’s latest eruption.
“I hope that you can finish it before my term ends. I want projects that are doable and can be finished during my term,” he said.
The lawmaker first raised his proposal to construct permanent facilities for evacuees in September 2018, following the onslaught in Luzon of Typhoon Ompong, which killed at least 65 people and sent over 100,000 people fleeing to evacuation centers.
Villafuerte said such a plan should top the concerns of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience, so the government could best achieve its zero-casualty goal as this office, and other concerned government agencies could fully implement preemptive evacuation, especially of people in coastal and mountainous communities.