Nearly 1,000 families evacuated as Philippine volcano spews ash

Xinhua | ^ | 2018-01-15 12:18:47 | Editor: huaxia

[BenLurkin]

Philippine authorities have ordered more than 900 families to evacuate as Mayon volcano continues to spew ash on Sunday.

Romina Marasigan, the spokesperson of the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said on Sunday that 919 families have been so far subjected to "mandatory evacuation" by local officials due to the "abnormal activities" of the volcano.

Marasigan could not immediately say the exact number of persons composing the 919 families evacuated but a family is usually composed of four to five members.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded two phreatic or steam-driven eruptions on Sunday morning. The cone-shaped volcano in Albay province rumbled back to life around 5 p.m.

Saturday, spewing ash plume around 2,500 meters high. The institute said dust fell on several villages in the surrounding towns. Phivolcs raised the alert level around the volcano following the series of phreatic eruptions, saying the volcano continues to exhibit signs of "increasing unrest" that could trigger more ash falls, rockfalls and landslides.

"This means that the current unrest is probably of magmatic origin, which could lead to more phreatic eruptions or eventually to hazardous magmatic eruptions," the institute said.

The Phivolcs has recorded at least three "phreatic eruptions" since Saturday afternoon.

[buwaya]

Mayon is one of the most dangerous volcanos out there.
Erupts often, and its surrounded by a heavily populated, extremely fertile plain, basically the province of Albay.
Anything it does is going to hurt a lot of people.

Dad was from a coastal town at the edge of the plain.

[LadyDoc]

not in my area. But Mayon has had small eruptions in recent years, so better be safe than sorry.

It was a swift evacuation that kept the death numbers low when Mt Pinatubo erupted.

and we just had an earthquake off the coast southwest of Manila. Again, I didn't feel it here, and no tsunami.

[Cobra64]

I thought air pollution was against the law. Calling the EPA...

[PIF]

For more information, pictures, and history see Mayon Volcano. Fortunately this volcano eruptive history only reached a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4 twice, with most eruptions in the range of 1-3. St Helens was a VEI of 5, Pinatubo was 6. (The VEI scale uses factors of 10 - Pinatubo was 10 times greater than St Helens.)

[Pontiac]

Thanks for the link.

That is about as perfect a volcano cone as I have seen.

A terrible beauty.

[Oscar in Batangas]

We have several close friends in the town of Tiwi. Always on edge for them when Mayon gets restless

[Mark17]

As soon as I saw a volcano, my first guess, was Mayon. Sure enough, I was right. The last time I was in Tagaytay, we could not go down to the Lake, cuz Taal was rumbling, and it wasn’t safe.
I am living in the shadow of Mount Apo. It’s rather majestic looking.