LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines — Farmers have begun returning to the foothills of Mayon despite an increasing flow of lava and a higher possibility of a hazardous eruption after the volcano showed signs of increasing restiveness in the past 24 hours, according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Phivolcs monitoring chief July Sabit said they are now considering raising the alert status from three to four as a major eruption might occur in the next few days.
The picturesque volcano continued to spout spectacular fountains of ash into the sky amid a series of minor eruptions, heightening concerns that a major explosion was at hand.
Earthquakes inside Mayon also increased due to the enormous pressure of the ever-increasing amount of lava on its slopes.
Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum said Mayon’s activity intensified yesterday with seven successive ash explosions recorded in a matter of two hours.
Solidum said Friday’s explosions were recorded as the biggest from the volcano since it began acting up this week.
“These explosions produced dark gray to brown ash columns that reached a maximum height of up to 1,000 meters above the summit before drifting southwest,” he said.
The Phivolcs chief also appealed to the public, especially to tourists, not to enter the danger zones.
“The important thing is that people should not be in those danger zones when a hazardous explosion happens,” said Solidum.
The so-called danger zone is a radius of six to eight kilometers from Mayon, and nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated from those areas since the volcano began spewing lava on Monday.
But the zone is a fertile vegetable farming area and many people from the evacuated villages have been creeping back to look after their crops and animals.
“There is nothing we can do except to keep taking them out when we find them in the danger zone,” said Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay province where Mayon is located.
Sabit said that after the 6:59 a.m. explosion, at least nine more weaker ash emissions took place over the cone-shaped volcano until 12 noon yesterday.
He, however, admitted that Mayon’s abnormal condition was indeed intensifying, though still within the parameters of alert level three.
“While we confirm that Mayon’s abnormality is gradually escalating, but until this time, what we are observing are still within the alert level three precursors,” Sabit told The STAR.
In the monitoring that ended at 8 a.m. yesterday, at least 248 volcanic quakes and harmonic tremors, both indicators of moving magma inside the volcano, were recorded, 50 of which were explosive type or containing gaseous materials.
Forced evacuation
Meanwhile, Salceda said that since curfew has been declared in the six-km radius permanent danger zone and up to the eight-km high risk zones around the volcano starting early yesterday morning, some 3,422 people from Barangays Magapo, Buhian, Bonot, Oson and Buan all in Tabaco City have been forcibly evacuated.
The governor has dispatched four M-35 Army trucks in Sto. Domingo town to evacuate residents living in high-risk areas to achieve the goal of zero casualty.
As of 11 a.m. Friday some 8,080 families comprising 38,528 people have already been evacuated as Mayon showed a high probability of hazardous volcanic eruption.
To ensure that peace officers implementing the forcible evacuation will not be saddled by human rights complaints, lawyer Pelagio Señar, regional director of the Human Rights Commission in Bicol, started monitoring the evacuation starting early morning yesterday.
Señar said he has gone as far as Tabaco City, Bonga and Boyuan as part of the Joint-AFP-PNP Task Force Mayon to monitor the evacuation and also gave proper advice to peace officers implementing the forced evacuation.
Greg Bañares, spokesperson for the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Bicol, concurred with the forcible evacuation order as he assured the authorities that the New People’s Army operating in the area will not conduct any combat operation.
Palace is prepared
Meanwhile, Malacañang assured yesterday that it is prepared for the worst-case scenario in Albay if ever Mayon volcano erupts.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar said all of the concerned government agencies are already on hand to assist the residents and the local government of Albay to deal with the situation.
He said medical teams are already being ferried by the Philippine Coast Guard to Albay to provide assistance if needed.
Olivar noted that the Department of Social Welfare and Development has already frontloaded relief goods to Albay in preparation for the possible increase in the number of residents displaced by the activity of the volcano.
Several residents have already been relocated and according to Olivar, the DSWD has already provided assistance to them.
“The governor has placed Albay under the state of calamity so that he can mobilize the five percent calamity fund that he is authorized to do in a situation like that,” Olivar said.
“People have been evacuated to evacuation zones so I think we’re pretty ready for whatever might happen,” he added.
An expert from the Department of Health (DOH) also urged those living near the volcano to observe precautionary measures as the ash fall it is emitting can trigger upper respiratory tract infection.
“The most common is asthma. Those who are asthmatic must be careful because the ash fall coming from Mayon can trigger asthma attack,” said Dr. Lyndon Leesuy, DOH program manager for Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases. – Helen Flores, Celso Amo, Marvin Sy, Sheila Crisostomo