EVACUATION. Residents of Barangay Buso-Buso in Laurel, Batangas leave their homes as Taal Volcano remained on Alert Level 3 on Saturday (July 3, 2021). The Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Air Force, and the police took evacuees to Sta. Maria Elementary School in Barangay Sta. Maria. (Photo courtesy of PRO-4A)
MANILA – The government will provide coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines and antigen test kits to evacuation centers accommodating Batangas residents affected by the Taal Volcano unrest, officials of the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.
Dr. Voltaire Guadalupe, head of DOH Region 4A's Health Emergency Medical Service, said in an online media briefing that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has provided “more than enough” test kits for evacuation sites.
"NDRRMC has provided more than enough test kits for the current evacuees. The Department of Health has also procured enough vaccines for all of the evacuees if needed," he said.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they will increase vaccine allocation and improve monitoring process to reduce Covid-19 transmission in evacuation areas.
"The allocation of vaccines will be increased and we are hoping that by vaccinating individuals and also monitoring them through antigen test kits and asymptomatic monitoring, we'll be able to prevent further infections in the evacuation centers," she said.
Citing data from the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, NDRRMC spokesperson, Mark Timbal said around 1,076 families or 3,617 individuals are in 22 evacuation centers while another 537 families are with their relatives as of Sunday.
"Majority of our evacuees come from (the towns of) Laurel and Agoncillo. The count also includes evacuees from municipalities that had voluntary evacuations," Timbal said.
Other localities in Batangas that made voluntary evacuations are Taal, Lemery, Balete, Cuenca, Mataasnakahoy, San Nicolas, Talisay, and Tanauan City.
The entire Taal Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone and entry into the island as well as high-risk barangays of Agoncillo and Laurel is prohibited.
Taal Volcano's SO2 (sulfur oxide) gas emissions Sunday were “anomalously high” at 22,628 tonnes, the highest it ever recorded, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
Alert Level 3 still prevails and the current SO2 parameters indicate ongoing magmatic extrusion at the main crater that may further drive succeeding explosions. (PNA)
