Power supply equipment stolen from Phivolcs monitoring station

LEGAZPI CITY — The power supply equipment at the hydrology monitoring station of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) in Barangay Padang in this city was discovered stolen, the agency said Saturday.

Phivolcs personnel discovered two battery packs and two solar panels were missing when they conducted an inspection of the site on Friday.

Dr. Ed Laguerta, Phivolcs resident volcanologist, said the loss of power supply had affected operations at the hydrology monitoring station, which collects and reads the data on temperature, salinity and the pH level of water.

This is the second time Phivolcs has lost gadgets to thieves.

Last January, thieves also stole solar panels and batteries from another Phivolcs station in Santo Domingo town. That station monitors sulfur dioxide emissions of Mount Mayon.

Phivolcs is appealing to the public not to vandalize the gadgets installed at their remote stations since the loss of any equipment affects their monitoring and assessment of the conditon of Mayon Volcano.

The volcano is still under Alert Level 4. Phivolcs raised the alert level status over Mount Mayon after it spewed ash and lava on Jan. 22, sending thousands fleeing to evacuation centers in Albay. /atm