Mayon’s seismic activity up anew

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — Mayon Volcano’s seismic activity shot up again in the past 24 hours after recorded tremors lasted one minute to an hour and 20 minutes, accompanied by slow but sustained oozing of fresh lava from the crater, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Paul Alanis, Phivolcs resident volcanologist at the Lignon Hill Observatory in this city, said the longer tremor events indicated active bubbling of magmatic materials.

“Longer tremors are triggered by magma bubbling and degassing inside the volcano. This also means that fresh magma is continuously ascending to the crater,”Alanis told The STAR.

He said that all abnormal parameters of Mayon showed that the volcano remains at a high level of unrest.

“With these high values in the abnormal parameters continuing, there is no way for us to lower Mayon’s prevailing alert level three at this time,” Alanis said.

In the past three days of fluctuating abnormal signs, Phivolcs recorded a total of 128 volcanic earthquakes accompanied by 76 tremor events that lasted an hour and 20 minutes, 385 rockfall events, 14 pyroclastic density currents and 6,590 tons of sulfur dioxide emission.

“These figures are still very high compared to the baseline values if Mayon is in normal condition,” Alanis said.

He said they could not recommend any decamping of Mayon evacuees as long as alert level three is up.

“We have been receiving reports that several evacuees are expressing desire to return home. But under Mayon’s present condition, we will not recommend entry into the six-kilometer-radius permanent danger zone of the volcano,” he said.

More than 5,000 families from 24 barangays remain in evacuation centers in Albay.