Manila: Philippine authorities prepared for a second wave of mandatory evacuations of residents whose homes are 10 kilometres from a powerful volcano expected to erupt soon.
“We are now preparing to evacuate more residents whose villages are 10 kilometres away from the top of Mayon Volcano, days ahead of its impending eruption,” governor Joey Salceda of Albay told Gulf News in a phone interview.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanoloy and Seismology (Phivolcs) has warned the Mayon Volcano is likely to erupt, followed by a collapse of its upper slope.
“This means additional area to be affected by Mayon Volcano such as upper villages in Legazpi City, which have at least 12,000 residents,” governor Salceda said, adding that residents there were scheduled for “immediate evacuation”.
At the same time, Mayon Volcano’s eruption with ash columns could result in ash falls around the circumference of the volcano, Phivolcs said.
“This warning means that residents whose homes are found 10 kilometres away from the volcano’s top must also be evacuated,” explained Salceda, adding that more residents would be evacuated from these areas.
He however did not give the number of residents living 10 kilometres from the top of the volcano who would be forced to be brought to evacuation centres soon.
So far, the local government units have managed to evacuate 50,000 residents whose homes were 6-8 kilometres away from the top of the volcano, Salceda said, adding that local government officials had satisfactorily responded to Phivolc’s warning that Mayon Volcano might elicit pyroclastic eruption, which could result in the flow of pyroclastic materials to identified Bunga and San Vicente gullies down to Albay’s Tobaco City.
Continuous rains that hit the Bicol region would hasten the movement of pyroclastic flow (a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock) to low-lying areas beneath the 6-8 kilometre danger zones, Salceda explained.
Meanwhile, residents at the evacuation centres were prevented from returning to their homes near the top of Mayon Volcano, Salceda said.
“There is food, entertainment activities, and other amenities at the evacuation centres. The evacuees have no reason to return to their homes that are located 6-8 kilometres from the top of Mayon Volcano,” said Salceda.
Policemen and other security forces were sent to the danger zones near the top of Mayon Volcano. “They were tasked to bring back to the evacuation centres residents who have returned to their homes,” said Salceda, adding, “Our aim is zero casualty when Mayon Volcano erupts.”.
Explaining why the residents have been returning home, Salceda said, “They told us that they wanted to get additional food supplies from their farms; they wanted to check on their homes now and then; and they left important things in their homes during the mandatory evacuation.”
All local government officials in Albay Province are prepared to handle the situation in case the volcano erupts, said Alexander Pama, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Mayon Volcano has zero volcanic earthquake, low sulphur dioxide emission, its crater is closing, but its surface is continuously inflating due to magma intrusion or increasing gas pressurisation inside the volcano, said volcanologist Ed Laguerta of Phivolcs.
“The continuous increase of the volcano’s surface inflation — with additional one-half millimetre on top of an existing 13 millimetre movement indicates imminent eruption,” Laguerta said, adding, “We are vigilant in observing the possible sudden change of Mayon’s seismicity.”
Mayon exploded violently in 1984, which collapsed its crater facing Legazpi City.
