THERE were plane flights during my college years which were cheaper if taken in the evening or at dawn. I used up more than usual flight schedules because I came home to Cebu as soon as there were holidays from class. What I always remember are my flights to Manila back to school at daybreak when Mayon Volcano would start spitting fire and ashes from its tip. It was always a beautiful sight from the sky at crack of dawn, the glowing tip of nature’s perfect cone.
Recently, Mount Mayon has been dangerously coughing up ashes again. It may erupt in January, says the Philvolcs, perhaps leaving 2009 out of the eruption records.
But this eruption would also be known as the 2009-2010 eruption from November of last year.
There’s a folk story about the volcano, that it’s named after a legendary Bicolana heroine, Daragang Magayon (Lady Beautiful).
The volcano is where Daragang Magayon was buried. The mound grew until it reached the clouds.
About a couple of weeks ago, Philvolcs raised the Alert Level
of the recently lava-spewing giant to what is called Level 4.
The flow increased, also the sulphur dioxide emission per day, said Philvolcs. What’s scary is that over 460 earthquakes in the volcano have been recorded, in nature’s shake-ups.
It’s said that in a recorded count, Mayon Volcano erupted some 49 times in the past 400 years. The first recorded eruption was in 1616. The most destructive was in the 1800s when the Mayon disgorged ashes that covered a whole town called Cagsawa.
People scampered to the church for cover but they were buried with the structure, as was the whole village, and only the bell tower can be seen today, as a memorial. The ashes buried the town up to 30 feet deep, killing 1,200 people.
It’s no consolation that the population in Cagsawa was probably so much less then. Or that in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, there were more than one town buried under ashes and mud, in fact, three cities in all.
What keeps me wondering is why some of those living in the danger zone still refuse to leave. Authorities find it a problem here in this case, even while other problems of possible destruction await them and everyone else in the Bicol Region, and in the country as a whole. And there’s not just Mayon but about 14 other volcanos in the country, including Pinatubo, Hibok-Hibok, Taal and Canlaon.
Some people with productive farms would want to try their luck by not moving out of the danger zone. It’s understandable because volcanic soil is rich in mineral, one of the good things people get from the terrifying experiences of fleeing from a lava flow. In Indonesia, for instance, there’s the healthy rice called Volcano Rice, which is said to be high in mineral and fiber content.
From the Internet, I’ve learned that a volcano is a melted rock called magma. Magma, gas-filled, rises from the bowels of the earth, melting surrounding rocks, forming a large chamber.
Perhaps gas is nurtured here until it’s ready to blast through the opening.
In the recent signs of impending Mayon eruption, farmers in this rich volcanic space probably can’t imagine what volcanologists describe as a possible shoot up, this time from Mayon’s crater of lava zooming 10 kilometers into the sky!
Those who don’t take heed of the instructions to evacuate need to get scared out of their wits. Talk to them of mudflows, ash flows, blazing lava rushing down into their village.
Sure, this nature’s being has its attraction—-even besides the fertile soil on its shoulders. It’s also even capable of “quiet” eruption.
As for its beauty, take a night flight this month to Manila, if not directly to Bicol, and take the seat where you can look out of the window on your right side. While the plane is passing by Albay past Sorsogon, look out and down from your window and get a view of the fascinating burning tip of that near-perfect cone.
(ecuizon@gmail.com)