Disasters & Accidents

Philippines raises alert level for Mayon Volcano

Manila, Jun 5 (EFE).- Philippines on Monday raised its alert for country’s most active volcano due to an increase in rockfall from the volcano’s summit lava dome.

Philippines’ seismology agency, Phivolcs, raised the alert level for Mayon Volcano from 1 to 2 – on a scale of 0 to 5 -, which indicates “elevated levels of any of the following: volcanic earthquake, steam/gas emission, ground deformation and hot spring temperature.”

“Since the last week of April 2023, daily visual and camera monitoring of the summit crater revealed an increase in rockfall from the Mayon Volcano’s summit lava dome indicating aseismic growth,” Phivolcs said in its daily bolletin.

“A total of 318 rockfall events have been recorded by the Mayon Volcano Network since 01 April 2023 while 26 volcanic earthquakes have been recorded for the same period,” it added.

The volcano, located on the northern island of Luzon – the country’s most populated -, and famous for its perfectly conical shape, is located about 11 kilometers from the city of Legazpi, in Albay province.

The city has a population of over 200,000.

The last major eruption of the volcano occurred in 2018, when around 90,000 people had to be evacuated.

Another volcanic eruption in 1993 killed 73 people living in the areas near the volcano while several eruptions in 2000, 2006, 2009 and 2014 led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. EFE

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