LEGAZPI CITY – Cedric Daep, action officer of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) of Albay, has dismissed as another hoax like the Dec. 5 tsunami scare reports circulating through text and word of mouth that Mt. Mayon would erupt and a flood would simultaneously occur on Saturday (Jan. 13, 2007).

        Interviewed over Bombo Radyo-Legazpi, Daep warned gullible people against predictions of prophets of doom like the old “hermitanyo” from Mariroc, Tabaco City who allegedly said that the twin disaster would strike in Albay on Jan. 13.

        “Who is the old man or woman who had made the prediction? Give us his or her name and other details of his or her life,” Daep said adding that he wanted to interview the mysterious hermit.

        Daep said that he or she might be a member of a cult looking for followers.

        “If Mt. Mayon erupts and a flood follows on Jan. 13 why, what is the cause? Is there a typhoon, intertropical convergence zone or any weather disturbance that could trigger heavy rains to produce floods,” Daep asked.

        Daep, an expert in disaster management, has asked the people not to believe in rumors but instead consult first the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs)and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) before leaving their homes for safer places.

        “Mt. Mayon is still abnormal at alert level 1 but it won’t erupt,” he said.

        He advised the residents to listen to the radio for weather bulletins which are issued by Phivolcs and PAGASA when there is imminent disaster. The January 13 scare is just like the tsunami scare last Dec. 5 when thousands of people fled their homes.

        Daep said the long term solution to the frequent calamities that hit the province of Albay is the complete relocation of families at high-risk barangays.

        But the PDCC should coordinate with the Philvolcs, PAGASA, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the preparation of a Disaster Preparedness Program, he said.

        He said that some 24,000 families in Albay will have to be relocated by the LGUs in coordination with the national government and foreign funding institutions.

        Because some 17 million cubic meters of volcanic debris are still deposited on the slopes of Mt. Mayon, Gov. Fernando Gonzalez has recommended the complete relocation of population in critical areas.