LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — The Environment Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Bicol has warned residents and evacuees in areas affected by ash fall to stay indoors and wear dust masks after its recent findings showed alarming air quality in these areas.
“It’s acutely unhealthy,” Bicol EMB specialist Nathan Campo said, adding that as of last Monday air-quality reading registered a critical 553 when the normal level is 150.
He said if inhaled, air mixed with volcanic ash poses health risks because it contains pollutants such as sulfur.
In Ligao City, air quality tests last Jan. 21 and 24 showed “acutely unhealthy” results. Ash fall is also carried by the northwest trade winds toward Camalig, Polangui, Sto. Domingo and Guinobatan.
Guinobatan municipal health officer physician Joanna Limos said ash fall last Monday night was the worst since Mayon spewed ash last Jan. 13.
The respiratory system is affected by inhalation of air with volcanic ash and causes respiratory diseases, conjunctivitis or eye infection and skin irritation due to its sulfuric content, she said.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officer-in-charge Emmanuel Leyco said concerted effort with the Department of Health (DOH) was ongoing to ensure that decent human conditions are maintained in evacuation camps.
“We’re looking at opening more evacuation centers but at the same time we have to manage the requirements of (the Department of Education),” Leyco said.
Turning more schools into evacuation centers, he said, would mean schoolchildren losing much-needed classroom space.
“We have to manage the risks, along with DOH, the risks of health and sanitation-related diseases,” Leyco said.
He said DSWD was making sure evacuees had sufficient access to drinking water.
“Based on our consultations with DSWD field office 5, we have enough provisions to augment the supplies we already prepositioned with the local government units,” Leyco said.
Motorists in Camalig, Albay wear masks to protect themselves from the ashes from Mayon Volcano on Tuesday. Krizjohn Rosales
To help Albay respond to the needs of its affected constituents, the DSWD sent additional relief assistance to the province last week, including 6,503 family food packs, 6,500 dignity kits, 2,000 assorted toys and 6,503 blankets.
“Our field office is working 24/7 to ensure that affected Filipinos are provided for. We are waiving the conditions of the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program (cash grants),” Leyco said.
For his part, newly designated Mayon crisis manager, presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, confirmed yesterday a looming health crisis at congested evacuation centers where children have fallen ill with asthma, respiratory diseases and infections.
Tolentino disclosed that he has sought the assistance of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for the provision of at least two nebulizers each for evacuation centers.
At the same time, Tolentino asked for the deployment of additional ear-nose-throat specialists because of high incidence of infections due to the inhalation of ash emitted by Mayon.
The priority for now, he cited, is the health of evacuees and sanitation in evacuation centers amid the projection of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) of Mayon’s eruptions that may continue for the next three months.
Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay breakfast forum, Tolentino disclosed he has “partnered” mayors from Metro Manila and other parts of the country with their counterparts in Mayon-affected areas in Albay to help provide toilets, face masks, medicine and other basic needs of evacuees.
Tolentino opposed the proposal to indefinitely suspend classes in all Mayon-affected school divisions, as such may delay the graduation of the first batch of K-12 students.
Instead, he appealed to donors for tents that could serve as temporary learning areas so that schoolchildren will not miss their classes, especially in public schools being used as evacuation centers. – Marichu Villanueva, Edu Punay, Rainier Allan Ronda