Over 1,000 Albay town residents evacuated due to heavy Mayon ashfall

LEGAZPI CITY — More than 1,000 residents of Camalig, Albay, were evacuated due to heavy ashfall caused by a pyroclastic density current from Mayon Volcano on Saturday.

Camalig Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Edlyn Noble said 399 families were affected by thick ashfall in the villages of Quirangay, Anoling, Salugan, and Cabagnan.

Noble added that the evacuees were temporarily housed in modular tents at Tagaytay Elementary School in Barangay Tagaytay, while others were accommodated in classrooms at Bariw Elementary School in Barangay Bariw also in Camalig.

In January, around 203 families were also evacuated from the villages of Quirangay, Sua, and Anoling—areas within the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone—after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised Alert Level 3 over Mayon Volcano, indicating intensified or magmatic unrest. /gsg