Mayon erupts nine times; big one ahead

LEGAZPI CITY - Restive Mayon Volcano blew its top seven times overnight and twice yesterday, and scientists said they expected eruptions to continue for weeks.

"This is not yet the big one," Ernesto Corpuz, chief of the eruption prediction division of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said in an interview on local television.

The ejectment of incandescent lava was preceded by at least 19 ash and gas explosions that started Sunday night and lasted until early yesterday afternoon.

Throughout the latest eruptions, Mayon's edifice remained inflated as shown by ground deformation measurements, Phivolcs said.

Phivolcs expects ashfall in areas to Mayon's southwest and its eastern section, and the west areas covering the vicinity of Baligang and Guinobatan.

The agency advised aircraft to avoid the western and southwestern section of Mayon and to take alternative routes.

Phivolcs Director Raymundo Punongbayan proposed that the six-kilometer danger zone around Mayon be declared a "no-man's land."

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara, on the other hand, said residents of the danger zone should be relocated to a safer and higher place, away from the threat of Mayon's eruption.

In interviews over radio, Punongbayan said Mayon's volcanic activities would continue for a considerable length of time with or without signs of an imminent eruption.

Bichara said he will ask Phivolcs to identify the danger zone around Mayon so residents can be permanently relocated and prevented from returning to the area.

Punongbayan said Mayon would continue to threaten the safety of people who are living on its slopes and surrounding areas.

Bichara said 10,000 people in the evacuation centers had not come from the danger zone around Mayon, but had taken refuge out of fear and apprehension of the series of eruptions.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, who also heads the National Disaster Coordinating Center, said of the excess evacuees: "I really don't know if you can call them fakes.

"Considering their poverty, it would not be surprising if the people took advantage of any opportunity for a windfall," Mercado said.

Cedric Daep, provincial disaster management officer, said residents vacated several other barangays following overnight rain which could send mud avalanches down Mayon's flank.

He warned that if the food ran low, the authorities "may have to give priority" to residents who fled the actual danger zones.

The provincial government said the food stockpiled in anticipation of the eruption would run out in a month.

Dr. Alexis Albao, city health officer, said colds, headache, and fever are the common complaints of the 47,907 refugees in the 43 evacuation centers in Albay.

"This is expected and is often exacerbated by the prevailing weather condition," he said.

Albao said his office is closely monitoring the health trend, especially cases of measles, chicken pox, hepatitis, and acute gastro enteritis.

"We have a stand-by clinic in San Roque, Cabangan, Gogon, Albay Central School, Catbaloga, San Roque, Taysa, and Bogtong," he said.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. is mobilizing relief operations to assist evacuees.

In a statement, the FFCCCII, whose president is taipan Lucio Tan, said a total of 6,000 relief packages will be immediately dispatched to its three chapters in Bicol. -- With reports from Felix de los Santos, Marichu Villanueva, AFP, Reuters