‘Dredge Mayon’s channels, gullies’

LEGAZPI CITY — A Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official urged the massive dredging of major channels and gullies around Mayon Volcano to prevent volcanic debris from reaching populated areas during heavy downpours.

Manuel Azurin, chief of the DPWH’s Albay engineering district, said the major channels that need to be dredged include Bonga and Buyuan, both on the volcano’s southeast flank facing this city, and those in Daraga and Sto. Domingo towns.

Since they stopped dredging in 2003, Azurin said millions of cubic meters of boulders and sand, which Mayon ejected during its 2000-2001 eruption, have silted these channels.

He said they managed to remove only about 10 percent of these volcanic materials.

Volcanologists estimated that some 50 million cubic meters of volcanic debris remained deposited on the slopes of Mayon before the volcano extruded fresh lava last July 14.

They said Mayon, in its continuing "mild eruption," has already spewed about 50 million cubic meters of hot, molten rocks.

Azurin, however, said their capacity to dredge these heavily silted channels and gullies would depend on available funds.