20,000 Mayon folk evacuated to avert mudslide tragedy

Some 20,000 residents living near Mayon Volcano in Albay province were evacuated from their homes Saturday to prevent a repeat of a mudslide that buried hundreds last week. Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) action officer Cedric Daep said residents in some areas were transferred to safer and higher grounds as early as Friday night. "Ang mga in-evacuate, mga areas na nasalanta ng Reming. Ang ibang areas may history ng flooding and landslides, move namin to safer locations (We evacuated residents from areas affected by typhoon ‘Reming.’ We also evacuated those from areas with a history of flooding and landslides)," Daep said in an interiew on dzRH radio. He said a hazard map of areas near Mayon, which serves as the basis of the evacuation efforts, includes areas with a minimum of 10,000 and a maximum of 300,000 residents. State weather forecasters placed Albay under storm signal 1 as typhoon "Seniang" approached the Visayas area. But he said that in this case, the residents to be evacuated Saturday numbered "between 10,000 and 20,000." "Sa paanan pa lang more than 10,000 na. Kung sa ibang aras sa hazard map na vulnerable max aabot ng 300,000 pero di kami magpapa-move out (Some 10,000 residents already live at the foot of the volcano. The hazard map indicates a maximum of 300,000 can be affected but we do not see the need to evacuate that many people)," he said. Daep said residents in Sto. Domingo and Camalig towns were evacuated as early as Friday night. Also moved were residents of Guinobatan town and neighboring areas close to river channels; and residents of Legazpi City, which suffered the brunt of last week’s mudslide. Residents of Padang village in Legazpi City, one of the hardest hit areas, were brought to the Gugon Elementary School. A 6-x-6 military truck started collecting residents and belongings as early as 6 a.m. - GMANews.TV