Batangas — Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas announced that the number of evacuees from the province displaced by Taal Volcano's eruption reached the one million mark on Tuesday.
Around 800,000 residents are staying with their relatives while about 200,000 people are seeking refuge in evacuation centers in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon, the governor said during a press briefing of the Batangas Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council.
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Asked how local disaster response officials came up with the number, Mandanas said, "simple lang, we got the total population of the lockdown municipalities and subtract all the evacuees staying in the evacuation area."
As of Tuesday, January 21, the Batangas towns of Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo, San Nicolas, Taal, Lemery, Sta. Teresita, Cuenca, Balete and Mataas na Kahoy are under total lockdown while two cities are on partial lockdown.
Mandanas said the provincial government is allocating a daily budget of P150 per evacuee or a total of P150 million per day to cover all those affected by the eruption. The funding covers food and sanitary kits.
The governor also showed optimism as the province received overflowing help which continues to pour in.
"Kakayanin natin ito dahil meron naman tayong sapat na calamity fund bukod pa sa assistance from the national government, from companies and private individuals, foreign group and other neighboring local government units," Mandanas said
He said around P200 million would be coming from their calamity fund.