Mayon Volcano. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA/FILE PHOTO
LEGAZPI CITY — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded a phreatic eruption that caused a 200-meter ash plume to come out of Mayon Volcano on Thursday, July 18.
In a report, Phivolcs said the light gray ash and steam plume, approximately 656 feet or 200 meters, drifted west northwest of the volcano at around 6:16 p.m.
Phivolcs issued the information to the local government units for appropriate action.
Miladee Azur, head of the city disaster risk reduction and management office, advised the public to avoid entering the 6-kilometer-radius permanent danger zone due to threat of another phreatic eruption.
“In 1990s, a sudden phreatic explosion killed many farmers, and it was noontime,” Azur said in a private message on Thursday.
Paul Karson Alanis, resident volcanologist of the Mayon Volcano Observatory Station at Ligñon Hill here, said that they also recorded an “ashing” or ejection of short and dark plumes of ash at around 3:23 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16.
READ: Mayon Volcano spews 1.2-km ash column
He said the ash plume has drifted to the west portion of the volcano, but did not reach the residential areas.
“It will happen every now and then because it is still under alert level 1 and it recently had an eruption,” Alanis said in a separate private chat message.
The alert status of the volcano was lowered to level 1 or abnormal condition on March 5.