DEGASSING. Mt. Kanlaon continues to spew steam plumes over the weekend as seen in this photo taken on Saturday (June 8, 2024). Alert Level 2 remains hoisted over the volcano as it continues to display unrest. (Photo courtesy of Julius Muñez)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Monitoring of the restive Mt. Kanlaon in Negros continues without delay despite the challenges that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) is facing, an official said Monday.
Ma. Antonio V. Bornas, chief of the Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division (VMEPD), told the Philippine News Agency that although there is no Phivolcs observatory in Canlaon City in Negros Oriental, the agency continues to give out advisories and regular updates on Kanlaon Volcano through their La Carlota, Negros Occidental observatory.
Phivolcs officials are currently in Negros Island to visit the different Phivolcs stations around the Mt. Kanlaon area including Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
During the eruption of Kanlaon on June 3 and until June 10, Phivolcs has consistently given advisories through its monitoring and reporting of the volcano’s status by posting on its website, and social media, and by sharing information with the Office of Civil Defense which in turn cascades the information down to the local governments, including the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices.
Her statement came after reports of local and national government officials calling out Phivolcs in previous days for not maintaining an observatory in Canlaon City.
The La Carlota observatory covers practically the entire Mt. Kanlaon monitoring network.
Phivolcs will soon assign engineers and open a new observatory in Canlaon City, Bornas said.
“We just finished rehabilitating the Canlaon observatory from a one-story to a two-story building. Engineers will be assigned there while Phivolcs is in the process of procuring new equipment and instruments,” she added.
The Phivolcs officials also said that government procurement processes take a long time, reason for the delay in renovating the Canlaon City observatory.
Meanwhile, Bornas expressed concern over the poor Internet signal at the La Carlota observatory, saying it is a real challenge for them to talk to the different stations around the volcano and put out real-time information.
Canlaon City would be a better option considering it has stronger Internet and telecommunications connectivity.
Alert Level 2 remains hoisted over Mt. Kanlaon as it continues to display unrest and steam-driven emission and degassing. (PNA)
The Philippine News Agency is a web-based newswire service of the Philippine government under the supervision of the News and Information Bureau (NIB) of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).