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90K Flee Philippine Volcano Stretching Relief Camps

90K Flee Philippine Volcano Stretching Relief Camps
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

The number of Filipinos fleeing from the erupting Mayon volcano to safe zones swelled to nearly 90,000, officials said Monday, worsening a sanitation crisis in the already stretched relief camps.

90K Flee Philippine Volcano Stretching Relief Camps

Meanwhile, the country's President Rodrigo Duterte flew to the central city of Legazpi on Monday to assess the disaster zone, some two weeks after the most active volcano began belching spectacular but potentially lethal ash columns, lava and rocks.

Authorities threw a nine kilometer no-go zone around the mountain with the vast majority of those living in its shadow now safely outside that radius.

But sanitary conditions in the safe-zones are far from ideal.

Al Francis Bichara, the governor of Albay province, said authorities expect the evacuees will need to stay at the camps for at least a month.

But he warned limited local government resources were being stretched, citing the lack of toilets at the shelters, where he said an average of 200 people now took turns using one.

"We lack 1,222 toilets," he said, adding the ideal was one toilet for every 50 evacuee.

After being briefed by officials, Duterte said he was worried about the lack of toilets.

"One worry really is the sanitation," he told the officials, adding his government would try to send as many portable cabins as possible in the coming days.

Officials said they were confident the no-go zone radius was large enough to keep people safe from even a large explosive eruption.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

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