Philippines evacuates 3,000 villagers after volcano activity raises alert level
Intermittent rockfalls, some as big as cars, have been detected coming from its peak crater in recent days.
A series of mild eruptions at the most active volcano in the Philippines has prompted the evacuation of nearly 3,000 villagers in a permanent danger zone on its foothills, officials said on Wednesday.
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Authorities raised the five-step alert around Mayon Volcano in the north-eastern province of Albay to level three on Tuesday after detecting intermittent rockfalls, some as big as cars, from its peak crater in recent days along with deadly pyroclastic flows - a fast-moving avalanche of super-hot rock fragments, ash and gas.
Alert level five would indicate a major explosive eruption, often with violent ejections of ash and debris and widespread ashfall, is under way.
"This is already an eruption, a quiet one, with lava accumulating up the peak and swelling the dome, which cracked in some parts and resulted in rockfalls, some as big as cars," Teresito Bacolcol, the country's chief volcanologist said.
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He said it is too early to tell if Mayon's restiveness would worsen and lead to a major and violent eruption given the absence of other key signs of unrest, like a spike in volcanic earthquake and high levels of sulphur dioxide emissions.
Troops, police and disaster-mitigation personnel helped evacuate more than 2,800 villagers from 729 households inside a 3.7-mile radius from the volcano's crater that officials have long designated a permanent danger zone, Albay provincial officials said.
The 2,462-meter (8,007-foot) volcano is one of the Philippines’ top tourism sites because of its near-perfect cone shape. But it’s also the most active of the country’s 24 restive volcanoes.