- Title: PHILIPPINES: Mayon Volcano edges closer to eruption
- Date: 22nd December 2009
- Summary: VILLAGERS WALKING, CARRYING VEGETABLES IN SACKS, MAYON VOLCANO IN BACKGROUND EVACUEES BATHING AND PUMPING WATER EVACUEES COOKING IN SCHOOL GROUNDS WIDE VIEW OF EVACUEES INSIDE CLASSROOM EVACUEES EATING CHILD EVACUEES SEATED AMONGST THEIR BELONGINGS INSIDE CLASSROOM MORE OF EVACUEES EATING LILIA NUNEZ AND FELLOW EVACUEES INSIDE CLASSROOM BARE FEET OF EVACUEES (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) 41-YEAR-OLD EVACUEE LILIA NUNEZ, FROM BUNGA VILLAGE, SAYING: "If Mayon does erupt, I hope it will happen within this week, so we can all return to our own homes and at least celebrate New Year's there. It's okay if we have to spend Christmas here."
- Embargoed: 6th January 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Philippines
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVA1ZZ5YR0X4H0U1A415IY6PU23J
- Story Text: Scientists in the Philippines say Mayon Volcano eruption imminent as thousands of evacuees wait in shelters.
Mayon Volcano could erupt within days.
Its seismic activity dramatically increased in number and size, a bulletin from Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said on Monday (December 21).
Vulcanologists observed small lava fountains rising 200 metres high and more booming and rumbling sounds from Mayon on Sunday night (December 20), hours after they increased the alert level a notch higher.
Alert level 4 means a hazardous eruption is possible within days.
The lava fountains, observed for the first time since the Mayons' activities intensified on December 14, indicate that pressure inside the volcano was mounting as magma rises to the crater.
Red hot lava continuously flowed along Mayon's gullies, and the lava fronts reached five kilometers downslope, the bulletin said.
More than 40,000 people -- about 85 percent of the population in the area -- have already been moved to temporary shelters, where relief items are being distributed.
The evacuees are likely to spend Christmas in the temporary shelters, where hundred of families squeeze inside school classrooms and share limited toilets and water supplies.
Many have complained of the discomfort and said they wished to go home as soon as possible.
"If Mayon does erupt, I hope it will happen within this week, so we can all return to our own homes and at least celebrate New Year's there. It's okay if we have to spend Christmas here," evacuee Lilia Nunez (pronounced Lil-ya Noon-yez) said.
Military check points were set up around the eight-kilometre danger zone to make sure villages were evacuated, but some residents have insisted on returning to check on their crops and farm animals.
PHIVOLCS detected nearly 2,000 volcanic earthquakes in a 24-hour period as of Monday, and sulfur dioxide emissions reached more than 6,000 tonnes per day.
About 50,000 masks were distributed to residents living near the volcano, to guard against such harmful gases.
Vulcanologists said Mayon's crater glow intensified and incandescent lava continued to roll down its slopes.
Heavy rainfall could lead to lahar or mud flow, PHILVOLCS warned, and its chief Renato Solidum said cascading lava can trigger a pyroclastic flow, wherein superheated gas and volcanic debris will race down the slopes at very high speeds, vaporising everything in its path.
The Philippines lies on the "Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is also prone to earthquakes.
Mayon is the most active of 22 volcanoes in the country, having erupted more than 50 times in the past four centuries. The most destructive eruption was in February 1841, when lava flows buried a town and killed 1,200 people.
The last time Mayon erupted was in 2006. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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