Mayon’s mild eruption continued at dawn Wednesday, marked by a fiery shower of lava fragments that fell up to four kilometers below the crater.
Rescue officials warned farmers to leave the fertile slopes of the 2,462-meter volcano as it spewed lava for a fifth straight day amid fears of a major eruption.
“We are worried about the people who remain in the permanent danger zone. There are livestock in there as well,” said Angel Capili, Regional Disaster Coordinating Council official, after surveying Mayon from the air early Wednesday.
Capili said the farmers within the zone would be “forcibly” removed from the area if volcanologists determine that an explosive eruption is imminent.
He gave no estimate of the number of people who remain within the seven- kilometer danger zone around the crater.
No evacuations have been ordered outside the zone, but Ed Laguerta, a volcanologist, said an explosive eruption could threaten the lives or properties of up to 70,000 people, including residents on the outskirts of Legazpi City.
“Seismic activity has apparently resumed to high levels,” suggesting lava extrusion and rock falls, the government’s seismology institute said in its latest advisory.
“At this stage Mayon continues its mild eruption with little or no explosions,” it said. “The public, however, is reminded that explosions are still very possible and the probability of life-threatening pyroclastic flows resulting from an explosive eruption remains high.”
These flows refer to superheated dust and rocks that travel down a volcano’s flanks at great speeds during an explosive eruption.
Mayon is one of 22 active volcanoes in the Philippines. It has erupted 47 times in recorded history, including in 1814, when it buried the town of Cagsawa, killing an estimated 1,000 residents. Mayon’s most recent major eruption was in 2001.
The lava continued to trickle into the Bonga Gully, about halfway up the mountain. At night the lava trickles resembled veins running down Mayon’s slope.
Bonga forms a natural basin for the lava. Once full it could spill over its fiery flow, which could threaten the towns of Santo Domingo and Daraga and the outskirts of Legazpi City.
On Wednesday the provincial council of Albay, led by Vice Governor Jesus Calisin, declared the municipalities of Santo Domingo, Malilipot, Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga and the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao in a state of calamity.
Along with the lava flow, about 250 tremors were recorded in Mayon Wednesday, about double the number Tuesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.
Phivolcs also reported a rise in sulfur-dioxide emission, to 2,157 tons a day Wednesday from 1,513 last Sunday.
Officials had warned a major eruption is likely within weeks.
Alert Level 3 remained in force around the volcano, and the Office of Civil Defense said 1,484 families may be evacuated if the level is raised to 4.
Thirty-five schoolbuildings have been designated as evacuation centers.
--Rhaydz B. Barcia, Julio Munar and AFP
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