LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) – Classes disrupted by the eruptive activities of Mayon Volcano in Albay last month will resume this Monday, January 4, 2010.

Albay Governor Joey S. Salceda, Chairman of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), ordered the resumption of classes in schools where classrooms were converted to evacuation centers after the evacuees started returning to their homes Saturday.

More than 47,000 residents within the eight-kilometer extended danger zone of the volcano were evacuated last month as Mayon threatened to erupt.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) lowered the alert in Mayon from Level 4 to Level 3 last Saturday.

Alert Level 3 means there is a lesser probability of a hazardous explosive eruption, but that the state of unrest of the volcano has not ceased.

Salceda ordered, however, that residents from within the six-kilometer permanent danger zone around the volcano remain in evacuation centers until directed otherwise.

To ensure that school facilities are ready for the resumption of classes, Salceda directed the Bureau of Fire Protection in Albay to spearhead the schools’ cleanup.

The governor also directed all agencies concerned, including provincial government departments, to immediately conduct damage assessments and submit their reports and recommendations to the PDCC as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said more than P61 million was spent during the past two weeks for the evacuees, who were provided transport back to their homes by military and police personnel.

The NDCC said 10,080 families or 47,766 individuals from 32 barangays in five towns and three cities in Albay affected by the volcano’s activity were provided P61,288,654 worth of assistance.

Of the amount, P9.3 million came from the NDCC; P6.4 million from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P6.9 million from the Department of  Health, P36 million from local government units, and P2.5 million from other non-government and government organizations.

A total of 29 evacuation centers provided temporary shelters to the affected families who received food packs, blankets, noodles, plastic mats, canned goods, drinking water and other provisions like drugs, medicines, face masks, emergency health kits, chlorine granules and drinking water containers.

High-energy biscuits from the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) were also distributed.

Authorities said almost all the evacuees have returned home as of yesterday, with only those living in the six-kilometer permanent danger zone remaining in the shelters.

Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan, spokesman of Task Force Mayon and the Army’s 901st Brigade, said transporting evacuees since Saturday was undertaken using 25 military vehicles from the Army, Navy, Air Force and the PNP. (With a report from Elena L. Aben)