Monday, September 11, 2006
RP scientists lower alert level as Mayon volcano's eruption wanes (9:10 p.m.)
MANILA -- Scientists on Monday lowered the alert status on Mayon volcano after its monthslong eruption waned in a move to allow most of the 30,000 displaced villagers to return home.
The 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) volcano in Albay province southeast of Manila continues to emit smaller volumes of lava and could still eject fast-moving pyroclastic flows - blistering gas and volcanic debris - but other indicators of a possible violent eruption have eased, officials said.
Mayon, the country's most active volcano, has not blasted out ash since Sept. 1 and has eased its sulfuric dioxide emission. The number of volcanic earthquakes has dropped and the night reddish glow of its crater has not been as intense, according to Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
As a result, experts lowered a five-step alert system from 4 to 5, indicating Mayon continues to erupt but with less chances of an explosive eruption, Solidum said. (AP) |
