Thousands of evacuees spent Christmas Day in temporary shelters in the shadow of Mount Mayon in the Philippines yesterday, as the volcano continued to spew ash and molten lava.
More than 47,000 people have fled their homes to seek refuge in crowded camps at a safe distance from the scalding ash and rocks, with experts warning the volcano could explode in a major eruption at any moment.
The evacuees shared rations of noodles, fried fish and fruit to celebrate Christmas in the evacuation centers. Children opened donated presents and clowns entertained the crowds, as the government tried to keep the evacuees from slipping back to their homes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I have mixed feelings of sadness and happiness,” 38-year-old vegetable vendor Estela Netuno, who spent the holiday in an evacuation center with her siblings and nine-year-old son, said yesterday.
“We should be home celebrating with the family, but we are here.”
She said the gifts of candies and toys her son got from donors, the Christmas Eve dinner pack of noodles and fruits from the local government, and the fried fish and vegetables shared with fellow evacuees during the traditional midnight meal made them happy.
Mother-of-two Maritess Nina lined up for food while her husband risked his life by returning to the danger zone to tend to the family’s farmland.
“We had thin noodles and bread last night. We threw some corned beef into the mix,” Nina said. “I only have 100 pesos [US$2] in my pocket, and that’s our fare for going home when it is safe to do so.”
The government has sent the army in to evacuate farmers refusing to leave their homes in the area fearing high-speed avalanches of ash, rock and gas that incinerate everything in their path as they roll down the volcano’s flanks.
Nina’s husband, along with a few others, had slipped inside the security cordon to do farm work in their small plots in the hamlet of Bonga, some 7km from the smoldering crater.
“He stayed behind in Bonga because he has to sow rice,” Nina said. “He has two helpers with him.”
Asked if the men feared the volcanic avalanches, which experts say are nine times hotter than boiling water and move at up to 240kph, Nina said the prevailing winds would work in their favor.
“It won’t go that way, because the winds are blowing toward Guinobatan,” she said, referring to a town south of Mayon.
Her children, aged 10 and 13, slept on the floor along with two dozen other people with cardboard cartons insulating them from the cold, but their mother said they were used to it.
However, conditions at the Gogon Central School, home to nearly 4,000 evacuees, were for many an improvement.
“The bathrooms here are a lot better than the one we have at home,” Nina said. “The governor had them built especially for us.”
A third of families in the province where Mayon is located are officially considered poor, including many of the farmers displaced by the eruption.
Nina said the evacuees were surviving on basic government rations, with men raising whatever they could from their farms to supplement food handouts.
“We’re getting rice and assorted items: sardines, noodles, coffee,” she said.
The government said in its latest bulletin that a hazardous eruption was possible within days, in an escalation from its relatively controlled eruption so far.
Some 96 ash explosions, reaching heights of up to 2km, booming sounds and 871 volcanic quakes had been recorded in the past 24 hours.
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