Thieves destroy Mayon monitoring instrument

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – Thieves have broken into the monitoring station of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) in this city and destroyed an instrument used in monitoring the activity of Mayon Volcano.

State seismologists said the thieves ransacked the vault and pulled off a tilt meter, one of the instruments used in monitoring the inflation or deflation of the volcano’s slopes due to the movement of magma or gas toward the crater.

Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist based on Ligñon Hill Observatory, said the break-in at their station in Barangay Bauang could have occurred on Nov. 19.

“The last data transmitted by the instrument was on Nov. 3 and when our maintenance crew checked the area on Nov. 19 they discovered the tilt meter system vandalized,” Laguerta said in an e-mail to The STAR.

He said the thieves took the metal parts of the instrument, which they could sell as scrap.

“The rest of the system was damaged and need to be replaced,” Laguerta said as he estimated the cost of damage to be close to P1 million.

Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum appealed to residents living near Mayon to help guard the instruments. – With Helen Flores