Kanlaon Volcano eruption. Screenshot from PHIVOLCS video

Mt. Kanlaon Volcano had an explosive eruption Tuesday morning sending ashfall in some areas in Negros Occidental, the Office of Civil Defense Region 6 (OCD 6) said.

OCD 6 Director Raul Fernandez said the affected areas are Barangay Sag-Ang in La Castellana; Barangays Yubo and Ara-al in La Carlota; as well as Bago City.

“Sa ngayon po, nagkakaroon na rin ng evacuation doon sa affected areas outside the six-kilometer permanent danger zone at maaari pong magkaroon ng suspension po ng classes,” he added.

So far, a total of 8,000 residents have evacuated from their homes since the December 9, 2024 eruption of Kanlaon Volcano, according to Fernandez.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) chief Teresito Bacolcol said ashfall was also reported in Barangay Cubay in La Carlota.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian expressed readiness dispatch family food packs and other needed aid to families affected by another explosive eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.

He said over 250,000 boxes of family food packs were prepositioned in the warehouses of DSWD’s Field Office (FO) 6 – Western Visayas and 7-Central Visayas ahead of the ongoing explosive eruption.

“As I speak, our Field Offices in Western and Central Visayas are closely coordinating with affected local government units so we can get real-time updates on the status of affected families, and their need for more provisions of family food packs and non-food items,” Gatchalian said.

“We expect the numbers of evacuees may spike again, but we are ready. Our nearby warehouses are capacitated. In fact, apart from the more than 100,000 FFPs in Negros Island, we have over 2.5 million boxes of FFPs prepositioned in other warehouses across the country which we can tap anytime for our relief response,” he said.

Apart from FFPs, the agency also has P865,447,008-worth of non-food items such as kitchen kit, family kit, sleeping kit, hygiene kit, and laminated sacks, among other relief items.

Alert Level 3 remains in effect over Kanlaon Volcano, which means there is a high level of volcanic unrest. Magmatic intrusion to shallow levels of the edifice is driving unrest, with indications that a hazardous eruption could occur in weeks.

Possible hazards from the volcano include sudden explosive eruption, lava flow or effusion, ashfall, pyroclastic density current (PDC), rockfall, and lahars during heavy rains.