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Volcano may erupt within days
Source: Agencies |
December 21, 2009, Monday
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THE Philippines' most active volcano could have a huge eruption within days, officials warned yesterday after detecting a drastic surge in earthquakes and eerie rumbling sounds in surrounding foothills. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated as a precaution.
Scientists raised the alert level for the Mayon volcano after 453 volcanic earthquakes were detected in a five-hour span yesterday, compared to just over 200 on Saturday, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The five-step warning system was raised to level four, meaning a hazardous eruption "is possible within days." Level five is when a major eruption has begun.
Soldiers and police will intensify patrols to enforce a round-the-clock ban on villagers moving within an 8-kilometer danger zone around the 2,460-meter mountain, said Governor Joey Salceda of Albay province, about 340 kilometers southeast of Manila.
More than 40,000 villagers have been moved to school buildings and other emergency shelters, but some have still been spotted checking on their farms in the prohibited zone. Salceda said about 5,000 more villagers were being evacuated from the volcano.
The cone-shaped volcano began emitting red-hot lava and puffing columns of ash last week. It belched a plume of grayish ash nearly a kilometer into the sky yesterday, and lava has flowed about 4.5 kilometers down the mountainside, Salceda said.
A major eruption can trigger pyroclastic flows - superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down the slopes at very high speed, vaporizing everything in their path. There can be more extensive ejections of ash, which can drift toward nearby townships.
In Mayon's major eruptions in recent years, such pyroclastic flows have reached up to 6 kilometers from the crater on the volcano's southern flank - a farming area where most residents have been evacuated, Salceda said.
Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were moved. Another eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.
Scientists raised the alert level for the Mayon volcano after 453 volcanic earthquakes were detected in a five-hour span yesterday, compared to just over 200 on Saturday, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The five-step warning system was raised to level four, meaning a hazardous eruption "is possible within days." Level five is when a major eruption has begun.
Soldiers and police will intensify patrols to enforce a round-the-clock ban on villagers moving within an 8-kilometer danger zone around the 2,460-meter mountain, said Governor Joey Salceda of Albay province, about 340 kilometers southeast of Manila.
More than 40,000 villagers have been moved to school buildings and other emergency shelters, but some have still been spotted checking on their farms in the prohibited zone. Salceda said about 5,000 more villagers were being evacuated from the volcano.
The cone-shaped volcano began emitting red-hot lava and puffing columns of ash last week. It belched a plume of grayish ash nearly a kilometer into the sky yesterday, and lava has flowed about 4.5 kilometers down the mountainside, Salceda said.
A major eruption can trigger pyroclastic flows - superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down the slopes at very high speed, vaporizing everything in their path. There can be more extensive ejections of ash, which can drift toward nearby townships.
In Mayon's major eruptions in recent years, such pyroclastic flows have reached up to 6 kilometers from the crater on the volcano's southern flank - a farming area where most residents have been evacuated, Salceda said.
Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were moved. Another eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.
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