By Juan Escandor Jr. (Inquirer)
Posted 00:22am, June 20, 2006
SORSOGON CITY—With no exact date for the big explosion, which the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said could be within a few months to a few years, local government units (LGUs) here face uncertainty in coping with the growing needs of disaster management for a long period.
Mayor Edwin Hamor of Casiguran said that as of yesterday, with the current resources they have—which included a calamity fund of P1.4 million, the LGU could only sustain for 15 days evacuees and the operation of response management.
But Hamor was optimistic that they could manage to overcome the challenges of the disaster response capabilities of the LGU in their town with donations from several agencies and institutions pouring in.
He said they have not yet spent a single centavo from the calamity fund because of the donations that came in earlier.
Hamor said they needed food, medicines and other donations that are relevant to the needs of the evacuees. He said clothes are last in the list of the town’s wish list.
Yesterday, 41 families were taken in here from the village of Inlagadian. The city government had to start spending for their daily food in the evacuation centers.
Disaster plans
The Inquirer obtained a disaster preparedness plan that details the specific actions and persons responsible in the event of a major eruption.
In Juban town, Mayor Marites Guab-Fragata revealed that they have only P1.2 million and that they would spend not only for the food of the evacuees but also for operational expenses like gasoline.
Guab-Fragata said they have already agreed on the details of the specific response plan of the town with two of its villages within the danger zone.
Sixty-six families are already housed in evacuation centers comprising 302 individuals.
In case of a major eruption, the Juban LGU has to feed at least 2,454 individuals from the two villages in the danger zone areas and they need at least P450 per family a day to feed the evacuees housed in schools.
She said the town started spending from the calamity fund yesterday and acknowledged the help of the provincial government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the provisions given them.
The Municipal Agriculture Office here has estimated that the March 21 ash explosion had damaged some P13 million worth of bananas, coconuts and other crops and that another P2.6 million was damaged as of yesterday.
Guab-Fragata said the LGU has no specific disaster response plan for Mt. Bulusan’s eruption but prepared a general plan for the town covering only typhoons and floods.
Exaggeration
But Manuel Olondres Jr., former mayor of Juban, Sorsogon, said media and some local officials were actually exaggerating the situation, which created fear and panic among the residents in their town.
“The things that we are experiencing now is not yet life threatening and if you watch the television and read the papers it looked as if it was the end-of-the-world situation when in fact it was not,” Olondres said.
He said his brothers and sisters in Manila had been calling him the whole day on Sunday worrying about them because of the reports in the media.
Olondres added that he observed that some politicians might be using the volcanic activity to spend the calamity fund and generate financial resources.
But Guab-Fragata, the political nemesis of Olondres, said she would want to spend as little of the calamity fund as possible so that it would be added to next year’s municipal budget.
She said she was only forced to announce the declaration of calamity, which was passed by the town council on March 22, because of the explosion that happened on June 13.
Guab-Fragata said the state of calamity was originally declared so that the LGU employees could avail of calamity loans.
In Irosin town, the Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council here yesterday was also detailing their municipal response plan in case the situation worsens.
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