Total lockdown up
BATANGAS CITY – Police and military forces have imposed a lockdown on several areas in the province of Batangas as authorities rush to clear the 14-kilometer radius danger zone which is described as the striking distance of the feared lateral eruption of Taal Volcano.
As of Thursday, the towns of Agoncillo, Laurel Talisay are in a total lockdown which means that not a single person, especially local residents, is allowed to enter the three municipalities which are currently the hardest hit of the ash ejections from the volcano.
Col. Edwin Quilates, director of the Batangas Provincial Police, said they already deployed significant number of policemen in entry and exit points of the three towns to ensure that no one would dare to enter the towns.
The policemen are augmented by military forces in securing the mainland areas close to Taal Volcano while a number of Philippine Coast Guard personnel were also deployed to patrol the shoreline of the Taal Lake.
Aside from the three towns, authorities are targeting the total evacuation of residents in the town of Balete. Currently, 11 barangays in Balete town were already cleared of local residents, two more barangays are being cleared.
Also, police and military forces are also evacuating people from 21 barangays of Tanauan City, and some barangays of Malvar, Lipa and Cuenca which are close to the rumbling Taal Volcano.
“The instruction to us is to prevent residents from going back. All people inside these areas should be going out, not going in because of the danger once a major eruption occur,” said Quilates.
The number of evacuees are quickly rising since the first eruption occurred on Sunday.
Based on the latest PDRRMO data, a total of 27,312 families, or 125,107 people, are being housed in 373 evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, evacuees have expressed concern about their situation at evacuation sites as more residents started to arrive.
Diane Rose Reyes, 26, of Barangay Butong, Taal town, said that her three-month old baby started coughing after evacuating at the Batangas Provincial Sports Complex Monday morning.
“Mainit po dito. Tapos binabahing, parang magkakasipon,” Reyes said.
Reyes, her husband and other family members set up sleeping mats inside the sports complex, but outside the gymnasium, where at least 44 tents and hundreds of individuals were being housed.
“Yung diaper saka gatas ni baby, huling gamit nalang,” she said.
“Punas punas lang din kasi mahirap ‘yung paliguan, maraming tao,” Reyes added.
Like the Reyes family, the Cabrera family preferred camping outside the gymnasium.
“Mainit sa loob. Saka malayo sa CR, eh gayong panay cr yung anak ko,” Aida Cabrera, 63, said.
While “food, water and clothes are enough” for evacuees at the complex because of the local government and concerned individuals, some are concerned of their hygiene.