No indications found to downgrade Mayon Volcano's Alert Level 3 status — Phivolcs
MANILA, Philippines — Mayon Volcano will continue to be under Alert Level 3 as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has not observed any indications that would warrant a downgrade.
Mayon Volcano's ongoing diffusive eruption is expected to persist for at least three months, according to state volcanologists on Friday.
Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol, in an interview with ABS-CBN's Sakto, said that although the eruption is diffusive in nature, it is still considered an eruption.
In the last 24 hours, state volcanologists have recorded the following:
- Mayon Volcano continues to exhibit very slow effusion of lava flow, reaching as far as 2.5 kilometers and 1.8 kilometers along Mi-isi and Bonga Gullies, respectively.
- Lava collapse was also monitored on both gullies within 3.3km from the crater.
- No volcanic earthquake was recorded.
- A total of 399 rockfall events and 13 dome-collapse pyroclastic density current events have been documented.
- Mayon Volcano's daily sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions reached approximately 706 tonnes per day on Thursday, June 22.
- The volcano's emissions, which are 750 meters tall, display a general southwest and west-southwest drift.
- Mayon Volcano's edifice is showing signs of inflation, suggesting the accumulation of magma beneath the summit.
Although indicators fall within the parameters of low-level volcanic activity, Phivolcs said that Mayon's diffusive eruption will continue for several months before subsiding.
"Kung dire-diretso 'yan, walang abrupt changes within the next few days, this would probably take at least three months," Bacolcol explained.
Human activities are still strictly prohibited within Mayon Volcano's six-kilometer permanent danger zone. It has been under Alert Level 3 since June 8.
Over 20,000 people were displaced due to Mayon Volcano’s unrest, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. — with a report from Gaea Katreena Cabico
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