Sick persons struggle, farmers devastated amid Mayon unrest

People with comorbidities are at risk while farmers struggle to save their livelihood from the dangerous ashes of the Mayon Volcano in Albay.

According to Bea Pinlac’s report in “24 Oras” on Tuesday, the volcano emitted another pyroclastic density current or thick ash clouds past 7 a.m. earlier. The plume reached 1,900 meters above sea level and drifted in a west-southwest direction.

Lava flow was also observed on the southwestern slopes of Mayon.

The family of Eduardo Moya in Camalig, Albay continues to endure the volcano’s persistent unrest. He has yet to finish clearing the ash from their home following Saturday's eruption.

The situation is especially dangerous for his ailing wife, who relies on a tracheostomy tube in her neck to breathe.

“Of course, I need to take care of her. I cannot leave her in this condition. Even though I’m tired, we can do it. We can make it through. I really love her,” said an emotional Eduardo.

Their family is finding ways to keep his wife from inhaling the ashes.

“We made our own filters. We use damp cloth and it can somehow filter…Of course, we only have a limited budget and we have to make use of what we have,” said Eduardo.

The Department of Health (DOH) warned of the risk of inhaling ashfall.

“Our ashfall consists of fine particulate matter—very small dust particles. We want to prevent these from entering our lungs, and the best way to avoid that is by wearing our face masks,” said DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development continues to distribute food packs and non-food items, such as face masks, to affected residents.

‘Back to zero’

A farmland in Barangay Sua in Camalig has been transformed into a desert-like wasteland after being buried under a thick layer of ash from Mayon Volcano’s activity. Many farmers are left devastated, as a significant portion of their vegetable crops can no longer be salvaged.

“You will feel weak. I wanted to cry after seeing the situation because we cannot harvest anything,” said farmer Carmen Solano.

“It seemed that our hard work every early morning was for nothing after you see your crops in that situation,” she added.

The barangay, on other hand, acknowledged that it would be difficult for the farmers to start over again.

“This is the challenge for our farmers because they will have to replant everything. Once vegetables are hit by ash, they all wither within one to two weeks. Our farmers here are truly back to zero,” said Barangay Sua captain Rod Moyo.

Two hundred farmers are affected in Barangay Sua—which is only eight kilometers away from the volcano. They could be further affected should Mayon’s danger zone be expanded, once the status is raised to Alert Level 4.

“I even spoke with the president last Sunday. I informed him that if Alert Level 4 is raised or if the danger zone is extended to 7 kilometers, we are looking at an additional 10,000 to 13,000 residents who will need to be evacuated. So, this is quite a large-scale operation,” said Albay Governor Noel Rosal.

In Daraga, Albay, no fewer than 200 farmers have also been affected by the ashfall.

Cleanup efforts are also ongoing in several barangays in Camalig after they were blanketed by ashfall.

“Our operations are still ongoing because the ash is thick. Some are still clinging to the trees. Out of the 16 barangays hit by the ashfall, we have four remaining villages that sustained really heavy damage,” said Camalig, Albay Mayor Carlos Irwin Baldo Jr.

A state of calamity has been declared over eight local government units in Albay. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA News