Villagers Leave Homes Near Erupting Mayon Volcano

Associated Press
Last updated 11:32am (Mla time) 07/20/2006

LEGAZPI -- Villagers living near the Philippines' Mayon volcano were evacuating or preparing to leave early Thursday, spooked by several ash explosions on the slopes of the lava-spilling mountain.

Mushroom clouds of ash shot up into the sky starting around 7:30 a.m. (2330 GMT Wednesday), sending farmers running for safety as parents took their children home from school.

Eduardo Laguerta, from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the ash clouds were caused by the collapse and disintegration of superheated lava mounds several kilometers (miles) from the crater of the 2,474-meter (8,118-foot) volcano.

He said anyone nearby could suffocate or be severely burned.

Lava and red-hot boulders have been trickling down Mayon since it came to life Friday in a "mild and quiet" eruption, which could continue for weeks, volcanologists said.

The government has declared a no-go area in a six-kilometer (3.75-mile) zone around the crater, but several thousands still live and farm within the area and cannot be forced out until there is an official mandatory evacuation order.

Farmer Eladio Echaluce, 85, said he was working in his field at Matanag village on the volcano's southeastern slope, when he heard a shout and saw someone pointing to a cloud of ash.

"When I saw the cloud, I got scared and came down," he said.

Another farmer, Loreto Aydaya, rushed along carrying a sack of vegetables and leading his two water buffalos.

"I was scared because I was about a kilometer (mile) away," he said.

School teacher Jenny Perez said parents rushed to the Matanag Elementary School to get their children.

"I could not do anything, so I just dismissed my class," she said.

Other residents packed bags and kitchen utensils and waited on the roadside or inside their homes for village officials' signal to evacuate.

In Lidong village in nearby Santo Domingo town, some residents were told to leave.

Alvin Rodriguez said he was worried that his family, especially his three young children, would be overwhelmed by the ash fall.

Mayon is one of the Philippines' 22 active volcanos. Its most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.

The Philippines is in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common.

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