The Philippines’ most active volcano has begun spewing lava in a gentle eruption, putting thousands of people on heightened alert for the possibility of a violent explosion.
More than 12,000 villagers have left their homes so far in mandatory evacuations from the mostly poor farming communities within a six-kilometre radius of Mayon volcano’s crater in northeastern Albay province.
Those evacuations began after the volcano begun showing signs of renewed restlessness last week.
Authorities cautioned that thousands more remained within the permanent danger zone below Mayon, which has long been declared off limits.
With the volcano beginning to expel lava on Sunday night, the high-risk zone around Mayon may be expanded should the eruption turn violent, said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Bacolcol said if that happened, people in any expanded danger zone should be prepared to evacuate to emergency shelters.
From a distance on Sunday night, the volcano could be seen spewing lava down its southeastern gullies for hours.
People hurriedly stepped out of restaurants and bars in a seaside district of Albay’s capital city of Legazpi, about 14km from Mayon, many snapping pictures of the country’s most popular volcano.
Albay was placed under a state of emergency on Friday to allow for quicker distribution of any disaster relief funds in the event of a major eruption. On Thursday, authorities raised the alert level for the 2462-metre high volcano.
A key tourist draw for its picturesque conical shape, Mayon is one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes. It last erupted violently in 2018, displacing tens of thousands of villagers.
In 1814, Mayon’s eruption buried entire villages and reportedly left more than 1000 people dead. But many of Albay’s people have accepted the volcano’s sporadic fury as part of their lives.
Located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the Philippines is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.
