Monday, August 07, 2006
Mayon Volcano 'on the verge of erupting' (11:25 a.m.)
MANILA -- After six ash explosions that sent ash columns up to 800 meters high early Monday, Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) have raised the alert level on the volcano from three to four.
Alert Level 4 is the second from the highest level, which means that an eruption is expected in hours or in the next few days.
The evacuation of 50,000 people living around the eight-kilometer danger zone has been ordered.
Officials extended the danger zone to eight kilometers on the volcano's southern side, from seven kilometers earlier.
The new area included at least five neighborhoods in Legaspi city, where classes were immediately suspended. Adjacent areas "should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify," a volcanology institute advisory said.
"More than 50,000 people will be expected to be evacuated," said Jukes Nunez, a provincial disaster officer in Albay province.
They include people who have ventured back inside the danger zone to tend crops in the fertile volcanic soil.
Army trucks and other government vehicles have been deployed to ferry residents to at least 30 evacuation centers, Nunez added.
Lava began flowing July 14 and has been slowly extending down Mayon's slopes.
Volcanologist July Sabit said the alert level was raised after six explosions were monitored starting at 7:08 a.m. Monday, with ash columns reaching up to 800 meters high. "Lava also continues to flow," he said.
Earlier, volcanologists said they detected 21 low-frequency volcanic earthquakes in the last 24 hours. Solidum said the lava flow could continue, or the eruption could shift from quiet to explosive.
Brig. Gen. Arsenio Arugay, head of a task force that will respond to the situation, was given four to 10 hours to mobilize all concerned agencies.
Last week, the government deployed troops to keep sightseers away from the edge of advancing lava. Solidum earlier said the danger could come from collapse of the lava dome or a sudden explosive eruption that could send pyroclastic flows - clouds of superheated gas and ash - racing down the volcano's slopes.
Mayon is one of the Philippines' 22 active volcanos. Its most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.(Sunnex) |
