Disasters & Accidents

Major eruption risk continues as lava gushes out from Philippines’ Mayon volcano

Manila, Jun 23 (EFE).- The Philippines seismological agency (Phivolcs) on Friday warned of possible violent explosive eruptions of lava from the Mayon volcano in the country’s northeast as the lava flow has shown no sign of abating in recent days.

Phivolcs said it has recorded 13 instances of volcanic rocks falling with an increased sulfur dioxide emission in the past 24 hours, as volcanic activity shows no decrease even two weeks after the first eruption.

Phivolcs has not recorded any earthquake from the Mayon in the same period, the agency said in its daily report.

The Mayon volcano has so far been in its effusive eruption phase as opposed to the explosive eruption, which iis more violent with a much greater destructive capacity.

The seismological agency added that the lava from Mayon has flowed up to 2.5km along the Mi-isi ravine and 1.8km along the Bonga gully of the northeastern Albay province, where the volcano is situated.

Mayon- the Philippines’ most active volcano- has so far forced the evacuation of 20,000 people.

The volcano, which is now at alert Level 3, out of a maximum of five, could force the evacuation of tens of thousands of more people, if the warning is raised to Level 4.

Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol appealed to the citizens in evacuation centers to “please stay there (…) do not return to the permanent danger zone for your safety,” local media reported.

Phivolcs has again warned of the growing risk of landslides or lahars, ash and mud avalanches, as lava continues to build up daily on the slopes around the volcano site.

Mayon is one of the main attractions of Albay due to its almost perfectly conical shape.

Its last eruption occurred in 2018, when more than 75,000 people had to be evacuated.

Mayon’s most lethal eruption took place in 1814, killing around 1,200 people who were buried by rivers of lava and volcanic rock falls, according to estimates published by Phivolcs. EFE

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