Rockfall events in restive Mayon Volcano more than doubles

Mayon Volcano (INQUIRER.net file photo / Ed Lustan)

MANILA, Philippines — Rockfall events in Mayon Volcano more than doubled from 46 to 98 in the last 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said Thursday morning.

Phivolcs on Monday raised alert level 2 over Mayon Volcano due to increasing unrest.

“Between 5 a.m. yesterday,  June 7, to 5 a.m. today, June 8, we recorded 98 rockfall events. This is much higher than the 46 rockfall events that we detected between June 6 and June 7,” Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Sakto.

(Between 5 a.m. yesterday, June 7, to today, June 8, we recorded 98 rockfall events, much higher than the 46 rockfall events we detected between June 6 and June 7.)

“There’s always a possibility that these rockfall events would drive to the events that we are looking at: the 2014 event and the 2018 event,” Bacolcol said in English and Filipino.

Mayon erupted in 2014 and in 2018, with the latter eruption resulting in the declaration of a state of calamity in Albay.  

“Hopefully, sana, hindi siya lumapit dito. Again, we are closely monitoring Mayon Volcano para ma-warn agad natin ang ating kababayan kung mangyari ito,” he said.

(Hopefully, it does not come close to this. Again, we are closely monitoring the Mayon Volcano so that we can immediately warn the public if this happens.)

Bacolcol, however, noted that there were only 332 metric tons of sulfur emissions on Wednesday, compared to 570 tonnes on Tuesday.

The Phivolcs website said Alert Level 2 means increasing unrest with low to moderate seismic activity and an influx of sulfur dioxide. At this level, the volcano “could eventually lead to an eruption.”

Meanwhile, the Taal and Kanlaon volcanoes have likewise shown activity, but both remain at Alert Level 1.

Phivolcs website said that under this level, there is no foreseeable eruption. 

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 gsg/abc