Disasters & Accidents

Philippines evacuates hundreds of people over Mayon eruption risk

Manila, June 8 (EFE).- The Philippines on Thursday was evacuating of hundreds of people due to the increased risk of eruption of Mayon volcano after a significant increase in seismic activity and rockfall, the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) confirmed to EFE.

In the last three days, Phivolcs registered two volcanic earthquakes around Mayon, in the southeast of the island of Luzon, and an increase in rockfall, and on Thursday it raised the alert level from two to three (out of a maximum of five) due to “increased tendency towards a hazardous eruption.”

Given the risk, Phivolcs recommended the evacuation of all residents within a 6-kilometer radius around the volcano and the authorities have prohibited planes from flying over due to the danger posed by the expulsion of ash.

Hundreds of people will have to be evacuated from the villages and settlements around the volcano due to the increased alert, the chief of the Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, Maria Antonia Bornas, told EFE.

In addition, school classes in the towns near Mayon have been suspended since Wednesday.

To the west of the same island, the other of the two most active volcanoes in the Philippines, Taal, increased sulfur dioxide emissions in recent hours, causing an increase in the number of people with respiratory problems in the nearby villages, however alert level one remains for now.

Since October 2021, Taal, located in the province of Batangas and just 80 kilometers from Manila, has increased its emission of toxic gases intermittently, but in recent days one of these episodes has once again alarmed the residents. Its eruption in 2020 forced the evacuation of thousands of people and covered the Philippine capital with ash.

In addition, Mount Kanlaon, another active volcano in the center of the archipelago on the island of Negros, and which is on alert level one, has also registered an increase in its seismic activity in the last 24 hours.

These three volcanoes keep volcanologists on alert, although for now a relationship between the three episodes has been ruled out, according to Bornas, who said that it is “coincidence” since “they are just three of the 24 active volcanoes” in the Philippines. EFE

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