Albay gov says Mayon erupting softly

FROM SOFT TO EXPLOSIVE Mayon Volcano spewed lava early on Sunday in what Albay Gov. Joey Salceda and volcanologists called “soft eruption.” But the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology says the lava flow may mean an “explosive eruption” is imminent. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippine—Lava is again flowing out of Mayon Volcano, raising fears an eruption could be imminent, officials said on Sunday.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said Mayon was most likely going through a “soft eruption.”

The government has already evacuated around 63,000 people living inside a 6-kilometer danger zone around the volcano, after it began to spew out white smoke and some lava last month.

Activity had appeared to quiet down but a fresh cascade—confirmed by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Sunday—this time stretching further down the slopes, has prompted concerns that an eruption may soon take place.

“The first activity started on Sept. 15 and lasted for a few days. After that, there was a lull or no summit activity, but this morning, our volcanologists spotted a lava flow,” Renato Solidum, head of the government volcanology agency, told ABS-CBN television.

Slow activity

“What is happening now is that there is very slow movement … of lava flow about 350 meters in length from the summit,” he added.

Solidum warned that lava flow from Mayon was usually followed by “an explosive phase of eruption” although he could not estimate when such blasts could occur.

He said magma inside the volcano was now rising to the summit slowly but added that it could accelerate, prompting quakes and small explosions and potentially causing a much larger eruption.

Aid delivered

Relief worth P9.4 million arrived in Albay province on Sunday morning as part of the government’s preparation for helping the evacuees.

The supplies were unloaded in Guinobatan town.

Thirty-six military and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) trucks will deliver the supplies to the evacuees staying in 44 evacuation centers.

The Department of Health also sent trucks carrying water, hygiene and family kits, and medicines.

The 2,460-m Mayon Volcano has a long history of deadly eruptions.

Four foreign tourists and their local tour guide were killed when Mayon last erupted in May 2013.

In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed when lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa.

An explosion in August 2006 did not cause direct deaths, but four months later a typhoon unleashed an avalanche of volcanic mud from Mayon’s slopes that killed 1,000 people.

Cabinet officials

The head of civil defense operations around Mayon, Bernardo Alejandro, said the government had done an aerial survey of the volcano and six Cabinet officials were in the area to assess the needs of people who had fled their homes.

He said the government would now be stricter in enforcing a ban on the entry of people into the danger zone.

Among the Cabinet officials who were on the scene on Sunday was Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who assured the evacuees that the government was providing all their needs.

“No one will be left behind,” Roxas said.

Mayon is now on Alert Level 3, meaning a possible eruption in weeks, but Alejandro said authorities were now assessing whether to raise this to Alert Level 4, meaning a possible eruption in days or even hours.–Reports from Michael B. Jaucian, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Julie M. Aurelio in Manila; and AFP

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