Government continues to monitor Mount Bulusan’s new explosion

Phreatic explosion or ash explosion of Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon (Photo courtesy of Mon Lorilla / @SeekGoodLife / Twitter)

MANILA — Government continues to monitor the new explosion of Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said on Sunday.

“Patuloy ang pagsubaybay ng pamahalaan sa mga kaganapan sa Mount Bulusan sa Sorsogon upang pangalagaan ang kapakanan ng mahigit sa 34,000 apektadong residente mula sa 22 barangay at limang munisipalidad sa lalawigan ng Sorsogon,” said Coloma in a radio interview with dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) estimated that the explosion has affected some 34,000 residents from 22 barangays and five municipalities of Barcelona, Bulusan, Irosin, Casiguran, and Juban.

Based on the report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has distributed over 200 food packs to residents of Irosin and Juban, who were directly affected by the latest explosion.

Coloma noted that the government has approximately PhP 171 million worth of food packs and funds from the DSWD field office on standby.

The Phivolcs had put Mount Bulusan on Alert 1 or abnormal state after steam-driven explosion sent an ash plume 1.5 kilometers into the air at 2:55 p.m. last Friday.

The public has since been banned from entering the four-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone around the volcano.