90,000 flee Philippine volcano... relief camps stretched

President Rodrigo Duterte flew to the central city of Legazpi on Monday to assess the disaster zone, some two weeks after the country's most active volcano began belching spectacular but potentially lethal ash columns, lava and rocks. Authorities have thrown a nine-km no-go zone around the mountain with the vast majority of those living in its shadow now safely outside that radius. But sanitary conditions in the safe-zones are far from ideal. Al Francis Bichara, the governor of Albay province, said authorities expect the evacuees will need to stay at the camps for at least a month.

But he warned limited local government resources were being stretched, citing the lack of toilets at the shelters, where he said an average of 200 people now took turns using one.

"We lack 1,222 toilets," he said, adding the ideal was one toilet for every 50 evacuee (1,800 total). After being briefed by officials Duterte said he was worried about the lack of toilets. "One worry really is the sanitation," he told the officials, adding his government would try to send as many portable cabins as possible in the coming days. Officials said they were confident the no-go zone radius was large enough to keep people safe from even a large explosive eruption.

"Even if that happens we think the people are already safe," state volcanology institute chief Renato Solidum said. He stressed the eruption was not over despite a relatively quiet weekend, estimating some "50 million cubic metres" more debris had the potential to be ejected from the crater in the coming days and weeks.