What the rest of the country doing in preparation for a catastrophic explosion of Taal Volcano?
On the surface, it appears that Taal Volcano is cooling down though PhiVolcs maintains the alert status to Level 4 (Four) meaning that a hazardous explosion may happen within the next few hours or days. Because of this, displaced families will remain in evacuation sites while the rest of the country continue to drive relief operations to help augment government efforts on the ground.
Meanwhile, discussions (and speculations) about the dangers of an alert level 5 abound in social media. Some of the points being raised by experts include the possibility of the eruption to occur outside the main crater on volcano island. This begs the question — how prepared are we, as individuals, families, companies, or even as a country, to face such a terrifying event.
Let us check.
The national government, through the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) headed by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) are admittedly preoccupied with relief efforts, ensuring the evacuation sites are properly managed and the needs of the evacuees attended to. However, have they at least issued any reminder to potentially affected LDRRMOs to prepare for the big eruption? Hard to tell right. The responsibility of preparing and managing disasters fall on your respective Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (LDRRMO). Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get this directive out there.
Some LDRRMOs may say, they already have contingency plans and evacuation protocols in place, even long before January 12 when Tall spewed ashes into the air. This is not hard to believe, because it is expected that LDRRMOS have plans and protocols in place. But the bigger question is — are these plans applicable given the possible scenarios that are emerging?
Assuming that these plans are up to date and have been reviewed against the worst possible scenario, has your LDRRMO reached out to you to explain any or part of these plans? Have they explained the dangers of a volcanic eruption? Did they also explain, in a manner that was clear and comprehensible, what you should do in the event of a full-scale explosion? Did they outline the protocols for evacuation? Where the evacuation sites are? What you need to bring, etc.?
What about your company leaders? Have they communicated any contingency plan in the event of the alert level 5 being raised? Did they explain what the company will do to ensure employees’ safety and well-being? Did they mention anything about the business operations and how they intend to continue or discontinue work?
As for your families? Have you discussed what to do in the event of the worst-case scenario? Have you started putting go bags together? Have you secured all important documents in the event of an evacuation? Have you identified where you would go should you be forced to leave your house? What about your cats and dogs and hamsters? Have you considered steps to ensure their safety and well-being? So, who is actually ready for Alert Level 5?
