Kanlaon evacuees allowed to return home

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines, June 13 ------ Families living outside the six-kilometer extended danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano and who have been staying in evacuation centers in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental will be allowed to return home. The city disaster risk reduction and management council approved a request of 257 families to allow them to return home in the villages of Yubo and Ara-al, according to Mayor Rex Jalandoon.

The move will enable schools serving as evacuation centers to resume in-person classes by June 16, Jalandoon said. For almost six months, the La Carlota South Elementary School II, La Carlota North Elementary School and La Carlota City College-Cubay campus have been accommodating Kanlaon evacuees.

The presence of the evacuees in these schools has limited in-person classes to just two days a week. Jalandoon said the shift to regular school operations would benefit traditional learners and students displaced by the eruption of Kanlaon, who can now reintegrate into formal schooling. He said the remaining 62 families composed of 226 people from Sitio Guintubdan in Barangay Ara-al, which is within the six-kilometer danger zone, would be relocated to the city gymnasium.

Source: philstar.com