Take precautions, Marcos tells Bulusan communities

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has urged communities near Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon to take precautionary measures after the volcano was placed under Alert Level 1 because of “low level unrest.”

“We advise residents near Mt. Bulusan to be more careful now that the situation has been raised to Alert Level 1,” Marcos tweeted in Filipino on Wednesday evening.

Marcos said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Office of Civil Defense Bicol, local governments, social welfare department and other government agencies are ready to ensure the safety of people living near the volcano.

In a bulletin issued last Wednesday, the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the Bulusan Volcano Network or BVN has recorded a total of 126 weak and shallow volcanic earthquakes since 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

Phivolcs raised Bulusan’s zero alert to level 1 at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when BVN has recorded a total of 126 weak and shallow (0-5 kilometers deep) volcanic earthquakes.

Phivolcs also said that volcanic carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations measured monthly in springs on the southeastern sector of Bulusan have been increasing since July 2022, in conjunction with increasing spring temperature since April 2022 in monitored hot springs on the southwestern sector.

Phivolcs reminded local governments and the public that entry into the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone is strictly prohibited. It also called for vigilance in the two-kilometer extended danger zone on the southeast sector of the volcano due to the increased possibilities of sudden and hazardous phreatic eruptions.

“Furthermore, people living within valleys and along river/stream channels especially on the southeast, southwest and northwest sector of the edifice should be vigilant against sediment-laden stream flows and lahars in the event of heavy and prolonged rainfall should phreatic eruption occur,” the Phivolcs bulletin read.

Alert 1 stays

Alert level 1, or low-level unrest, would stay over Mt. Bulusan despite the more than 300 earthquakes recorded by seismic instruments in the past 24 hours.

“So far, our instruments do not detect yet any magmatic movement inside Bulusan. As long as this is the condition, alert level 1 will stay over Bulusan as its overall condition is still within this alert status,” said April Dominguiano, Phivolcs resident volcanologist in the Cabid-An monitoring station in Sorsogon City. –  Cet Dematera, Rudy Santos