Imminent Mayon volcano eruption feared

The Mayon volcano appeared ready to blow its top yesterday as six explosions sent ash columns up to 800 metres high and led officials to evacuate tens of thousands of people from an extended danger zone.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert to level 4, saying an explosive eruption appeared imminent. Level 5 represents an ongoing eruption.Officials extended the danger zone to eight kilometres on the volcano’s southern side, from seven kilometres earlier.The new area included at least five neighbourhoods in Legaspi city, where classes were immediately suspended.Adjacent areas “should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify,” a volcanology institute advisory said.Governor Fernando Gonzalez of Albay province, where Mayon is located, said about 35 000 villagers were being evacuated yesterday and an additional 20 000 people would have to be moved out of harm’s way in case of a major eruption.About 80 army trucks and government vehicles have been deployed to ferry residents to 34 evacuation centres, officials said.Officials are hoping Mayon, which has erupted at least 47 times in the last 400 years, would go off quietly.An explosive eruption would complicate evacuation efforts, although Albay has been known to have developed one of the most efficient disaster response systems in the country, Gonzalez said.”We don’t know but we are prepared.We always look at the worst scenario,” he said.Gerry Losentales, a poor 87-year-old farmer, has refused to leave his hut near his small vegetable farm even after the land was partly seared by lava flows a few days ago.He was among dozens of residents ordered to evacuate Monday from Mabinit village below the volcano.”I survive by tending that farm and I have lived here all my life,” a teary-eyed Losentales said as soldiers helped him board an army truck loaded with villagers to be brought to a temporary school shelter.”I hope the government can help me now.”Mayon is one of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanos.Its most violent eruption in 1814, killed more than 1 200 people and buried a town in mud.A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.Nampa-APLevel 5 represents an ongoing eruption.Officials extended the danger zone to eight kilometres on the volcano’s southern side, from seven kilometres earlier.The new area included at least five neighbourhoods in Legaspi city, where classes were immediately suspended.Adjacent areas “should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify,” a volcanology institute advisory said.Governor Fernando Gonzalez of Albay province, where Mayon is located, said about 35 000 villagers were being evacuated yesterday and an additional 20 000 people would have to be moved out of harm’s way in case of a major eruption.About 80 army trucks and government vehicles have been deployed to ferry residents to 34 evacuation centres, officials said.Officials are hoping Mayon, which has erupted at least 47 times in the last 400 years, would go off quietly.An explosive eruption would complicate evacuation efforts, although Albay has been known to have developed one of the most efficient disaster response systems in the country, Gonzalez said.”We don’t know but we are prepared.We always look at the worst scenario,” he said.Gerry Losentales, a poor 87-year-old farmer, has refused to leave his hut near his small vegetable farm even after the land was partly seared by lava flows a few days ago.He was among dozens of residents ordered to evacuate Monday from Mabinit village below the volcano.”I survive by tending that farm and I have lived here all my life,” a teary-eyed Losentales said as soldiers helped him board an army truck loaded with villagers to be brought to a temporary school shelter.”I hope the government can help me now.”Mayon is one of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanos.Its most violent eruption in 1814, killed more than 1 200 people and buried a town in mud.A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.Nampa-AP