Left photo: Bulusan Volcano eruption, June 5, 2022 Mayon Volcano eruption, December 2009IMAGE CREDITS: STILL PHOTO FROM YOUTUBE FOOTAGE BY GIAN MULLASGO PRESSREADER.COM/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER DECEMBER 22, 2009: I got a big scare at 2:00 p.m. today when ANC, ABS-CBN's cable news channel, ran a newsflash on the screen that the Department of Health has declared the whole Bicol Region on “blue alert” due to the increasing eruptive activity of Mayon Volcano. Being familiar with the region (I hail from a town in Camarines Sur some 55 km away from Mayon), I told my two sons that it simply couldn’t be, and that perhaps that particular “blue alert”—for whatever it meant—could only apply to Albay province alone. At the very least, I told my sons, that TV report should have immediately clarified what they meant by that code so as not to cause misunderstanding and alarm—whether among those directly in harm’s way or those simply concerned for the safety of relatives or friends who are.
My understanding of “blue alert” is only from a hospital standpoint—as a code for “adult emergency” that asks all available staff to respond to the code. That it should apply to the whole Bicol Region therefore alarmed me, for it created the idea that Mayon’s increasing volcanic activity was of a magnitude that might put the whole Bicol Region in peril, maybe on the scale of the terrible eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. I am making this point because I know for a fact that even during the worst eruptions of Mayon in the past five decades, its direct impact on respiratory health—largely from inhalation of ashfall by residents—had at most affected only an area within, say, a 60-80 km radius from the volcano. When Mayon had a major eruption when I was a child, in fact, I experienced a whiff and taste of its ashfall in our place some 55 km away, and most everything in our place—ground, coconut tree, banana grove, and rooftop—got blanketed with a thin layer of ash, but beyond that range there wasn’t any ashfall at all. This is why I was very sure that ANC’s “blue alert” reporting, without any qualifications whatsoever, wasn’t in proper context and tended to cause undue alarm.
True enough—and thank God for that!—ANC made a clarification two hours later; its TV newscaster announced that the DOH “blue alert” was only for the province of Albay, where Mayon is located. That was very reassuring, for at least it allayed my growing suspicion that the report that the “blue alert” applied to the Bicol Region was perhaps simply due to the DOH’s or TV news desk’s less than good grounding on Philippine geography. Frankly, I often get a mild shock every time I come across news reporting about developments in a particular town in the Bicol Region being erroneously being presented as happening in another province—as if the reporter or deskman thought that Bicol was just one contiguous province. So let’s get this straight once and for all: The Bicol Region, which has a total land area of 17,632 square kilometers, consists of six provinces in all—Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes (a major island), and Masbate (another major island)—with Mayon Volcano lying a few kilometers from the northwestern coastline of Albay. Thus, unless—God forbid!—Mayon does a highly eruptive Pinatubo act, a “blue alert” over the whole Bicol Region due to its current volcanic activity would be highly improbable.
With these thoughts, I was about to lay the matter to rest earlier tonight, but one of my sons just called from downstairs to tell me that a newscaster in another TV station was saying that, in fact, the DOH issued its “blue alert” to cover the whole Bicol Region. The TV newscaster, however, clarified that the “blue alert” was simply an order to all DOH personnel in the Bicol Region to immediately rush to the evacuation centers near the Mayon danger zone to provide health-care assistance to those affected by the eruption. Indeed, it became clear that this “blue alert” wasn’t a direct measure at all of the magnitude of Mayon’s volcanic activity but simply a measure of the DOH’s administrative response to it. At this moment, though, I still don’t know which TV report is accurate. Does the DOH “blue alert” cover all of its personnel for the entire Bicol Region or just for Albay? As they say in the vernacular, “
Bitin pa hanggang ngayon at kailangan pang abangan ang karugtong!”
Anyway, I could only wish that TV journalists would be much more circumspect, contextual, and judicious in their reporting of the pronouncements of government agencies in response to dangerous natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Their business is to inform people—not to scare them out of their wits!
------------------
ADDENDUM (JUNE 5, 2022)THESE ARE THE WIDELY RECOGNIZED CONVENTIONS FOR DECLARING THE "BLUE ALERT“ OR "CODE BLUE“ STATUS:
In the United States, a “Blue Alert” is activated when a violent attack on a law enforcement officer has occurred, and a search for the suspect is active. Blue Alerts provide immediate information to the public to prevent further harm and aid in the swift apprehension of the suspect.
In medical and hospital parlance, ”Code Blue” is called if a patient goes into cardiac arrest, has respiratory issues, or experiences any other medical emergency. Hospitals typically have rapid response teams ready to go when they get notified about a Code Blue.
In the Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) raises the ”Blue Alert” status ahead of a tropical storm's expected landfall. The Blue Alert level means that half of the members of the NDRRMC are on standby for any emergencies.
