Disaster execs to cut off power supply in Mayon danger zones

LEGAZPI CITY—Disaster officials in Albay province said they would cut off the supply of electricity, and even water, to households within the 6-to-8-kilometer-radius danger zones this week to prevent people displaced by an imminent Mayon Volcano eruption from returning to their dwellings.

Some 54,000 people, or nearly 13,000 families, have been staying in temporary shelters since Sept. 15, when Alert Level 3 was raised over Mayon, which means an eruption within weeks.

The move to cut off the power supply in the danger zones “is a natural sequence of measures to ensure zero casualty through zero exposure,” Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said.

He said the provincial government would be more strict with evacuees in the coming days, as it was doing everything to make their stay comfortable at the evacuation centers. Each family will continue to receive 5 kilos of rice and canned goods every day, he said.

“We are closely working on the comfort rooms and bathrooms in evacuation centers, which serve as alibis for evacuees in going back to their houses,” Salceda said.

The Army has been monitoring or blocking checkpoints and choke points to prevent evacuees from entering the danger zones, said Bernardo Alejandro, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense.

Government volcanologists expected Mayon’s eruption to become more dangerous this time, pointing out the decreasing gas emission at the crater that indicates limited movement of magma and buildup of more pressure inside.

In a press briefing on Monday, Eduardo Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said only 148 tons (127 metric tons) per day of sulfur dioxide were recorded on Oct. 5 compared with 308 tons (279.4 MT) on Oct. 2.

No volcanic quakes and rockfall events were reported on Sunday and Monday.

“It can be more dangerous because the lower gas emission means the crater has been clogged, so there will be limited movement of magma but the pressure can build up even more,” Laguerta said.

He said the continuous “inflation,” or swelling of the volcano, also showed the possibility of a big eruption.

Phivolcs earlier noted an inflation by 3 millimeters, which meant that the volume of magma, estimated to be 2 million cubic meters or equivalent to 80,000 truckloads of rocks, was still in the magma chamber some 5 kilometers from the summit.

Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said the province was ready for three “worst-case scenarios” in case of a “vulcanian” eruption, which is characterized by strong explosions, multiple pyroclastic flows and lava cascading down the slopes.

In the first scenario, if lava dome or pile facing the southeast section of the volcano collapses, the pyroclastic flow would affect areas of Legazpi City and Daraga and Sto. Domingo towns, and some parts of Camalig town.

The second is that when the lava dome in the southeast section and the wall at the northern side of the volcano collapse, portions of Tabaco and Ligao cities, and Malilipot town would be endangered by pyroclastic materials.

Daep said the third is that if there would be a huge ash column, or hot volcanic ash rising, all areas up to the extended danger zone would be endangered.

Pyroclastic materials are a mixture of fast-moving lava fragments, rocks and volcanic gases flowing through the channels of the volcano at 100 kilometers per hour, with a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius, or 12 times hotter than boiling water—enough to melt the entire body of a person.

Daep said that if Alert Level 4 is raised, another 12,000 families on the southeast side of Mayon would be evacuated.