Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt--Update

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapc...yon/index.html



Ash and smoke stream from the Mayon volcano in the Philippine town of Legazpi on November 15.


Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt
December 15, 2009 6:14 a.m. EST

(CNN) -- Philippines authorities Tuesday started evacuating about 50,000 people living around the island nation's most active volcano after it oozed fiery lava and belched clouds of ash.

A large-scale eruption was forecast as imminent.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level up a notch on Monday night to level 3. Scientist Alex Baloloy told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that under level 3, "a full-blown eruption is expected to take place within weeks to days."

He said seismic instruments detected 83 volcanic quakes, a majority of which were tremors associated with rockfalls.

People in Albay province, about 466 kilometers (290 miles) south of the capital, Manila, flocked to town centers to catch a glimpse of glowing lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon. The volcanic mountain soars 2,464 meters (8,077 feet) into the sky and has erupted 49 times since the first documented erupted in 1616.

Ash fell on the town of Guinabatan, prompting its mayor to predict an unwanted sort of white Christmas, PNA said.

Provincial Gov. Joey Salceda, ordered mandatory evacuation for residents of 45 towns and cities within a radius of 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) around Mayon, including Legazpi, Ligao, Tabaco, Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Malilipot and Santo Domingo.

The Albay Public Safety Emergency and Management Office said 9,946 families or 47,285 people were expected to be moved to safer ground within 72 hours, PNA reported.

Salceda, who canceled a planned trip to Denmark for the global climate conference in Copenhagen, said he will meet with the provincial disaster coordinating council Tuesday to discuss emergency measures in case of an eruption, according to PNA.

The Philippines is situated in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and devastated several towns. Its last major eruption was in 1993.

Since then, it has emitted ash and spewed lava but remained restless.

[Shiloh]

Re: Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

Big bang to greet holidays
By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) Updated December 21, 2009 12:00 AM


Lava cascades down the slopes of Mayon Volcano as seen from Legazpi City, Albay. The alert level at Mayon was raised yesterday as abnormal activity continued to intensify. Edd Gumban

MANILA, Philippines - A major and violent eruption of Mayon Volcano could be just days away, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned yesterday.

Phivolcs yesterday raised the alert from level three to four, which means that an explosive eruption could take place in days, following a greater frequency of earthquakes and sulfur dioxide emissions.

Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said they raised the alert level at the volcano because of a significant increase in the number and size of volcanic earthquakes and tremors, sustained high sulfur dioxide gas emission and rumbling sound.

?This means that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within days, thus, areas expected to be affected by such eruption will be accordingly extended,? Solidum said.

Solidum also told reporters that ?what we are preparing for is a hazardous eruption and a quick descent of pyroclastic ash flow.?

He said the ash flow would remain within six kilometers of the 2,460-meter (8,070 feet) volcano.

?But naturally, we have a buffer zone,? just to make sure, he said.

Solidum said cascading lava could trigger a pyroclastic flow - superheated gas and volcanic debris racing down the slopes at very high speed, vaporizing everything in its path.

Albay officials had already ordered evacuation of at least 16,000 more families, or 70,000 people found up to the eight-kilometer radius high risk zone.

The government has already evacuated more than 8,600 of the 9,000 or so families living within an eight-kilometer (five mile) danger zone set up around Mayon, civil defense officials said. Officials also said they might have to spend up to four months in temporary shelters.

Mayon could remain silent after an initial eruption before erupting yet again, said the volcanologists.

Although ash from the volcano was unlikely to threaten residents directly, there was a risk it could turn into a deadly mudflow, as happened in 2006, when hundreds of people were swept away, the officials said.

While no one was directly killed by that eruption, tons of debris that had collected on Mayon?s slopes were dislodged by typhoon ?Reming? three months later. The avalanche of mud and boulders crushed entire villages, leaving over 1,000 dead.

?463 volcanic earthquakes?

July Sabit, head of the volcano monitoring team said the number of volcanic quakes from Sunday morning increased to 463 and that the volcano was belching more sulphur dioxide into the air.

This was a sign that ?a hazardous eruption is possible within days.? However he would not give a forecast when the eruption could take place.

Hours earlier, volcanologists said an eruption could occur in two weeks.

Phivolcs has recommended an extended danger zone from the summit of eight kilometers at the southern sector and seven kilometers at the northern sector of the volcano.

?Areas just outside of this Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify,? Solidum said.

According to Solidum, Mt. Mayon?s sulfur dioxide emission reached 7,024 tons in the past 24 hours, the highest volume of sulfur dioxide gas emitted by the volcano since it began acting up last week.

He said sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission increased from 2,034 tonnes per day (t/d) to 7,024 t/d yesterday, signifying the volcano?s growing unrest.

Phivolcs said a total of 222 volcanic quakes and tremors were recorded by the seismic network in the past 24 hours.

One of these events, Phivolcs said, was an explosion type earthquake that produced a dirty white to grayish ash column that reached a maximum height of about 500 meters above summit before drifting southwest.

The military and police will now tighten the controls over the danger zone and ensure that no one is left there or allowed to enter, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said.

Officials warned that they would take forceful measures to remove villagers who did not want to leave their farms.

?We try to do the persuasive thing but if (it) gets bad, the governor has instructions to forcibly evacuate them,? local civil defense head Raffy Alejandro said.

Villagers reluctant to leave

Despite the warnings, many villagers are reluctant to leave and may sneak back to their farms to harvest their produce or protect their livestock.

Salceda also ordered the doubling of more patrols as well as placed additional forces to enforce the no human activity policy inside the 6-km radius permanent danger zone up to the 8-km high-risk zone around Mayon Volcano to brace for eruption of the volcano.

He has also declared a curfew to ensure that all residents at risk have to be evacuated before Mayon erupts. He also placed the province under a state of calamity so that local government units will be able to use their 5 percent calamity fund to address the needs of evacuees.

?We will try our best. I know that they want to return home. If they will return we will find them and bring them back to the evacuation center. If I find them in the danger zone I will bring them back to the safety of the evacuation center because we cannot give up on them and certainly the provincial government is not giving up on the goal of zero casualty and we cannot leave anything to chance,? said Salceda at a press conference yesterday afternoon at the office of the Provincial Security and Emergency Management Office together with Solidum and Mayon resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta.

?We are putting in place very deliberate strategies in order to achieve the zero casualty goal of the provincial government of course with the help of the AFP and the PNP,? he added.

?We have been conducting various evacuations and what make those evacuations difficult is because we are in Christmas season.?

Salceda said that the rice supplies of the evacuees have already been delivered four to five days in advance ?so we can focus on the unpredictability of Mayon?s eruption.?

The evacuees were given sleeping mats and food as they settled down in evacuation centers, mostly schools, where social workers were organizing Christmas parties and games to keep children busy, local officials said.

Meanwhile health officials warned of sulfur dioxide inhalation because it can cause upper respiratory tract infection.

An expert from the Department of Health (DOH) has urged those living near the volcano to observe precautionary measures as the ash fall it is emitting can trigger upper respiratory tract infection.

Mayon shot two plumes of smoke last Friday morning, one reaching almost 2 kilometers in the sky.

The Philippines is in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Mayon, 330 km (206 miles) southeast of Manila, has erupted 48 times in recorded history.

The most violent eruption occurred in 1814 and killed more than 1,200 people, devastated several towns and buried Cagsawa.

However, Mayon remains a famous tourist spot and is famous worldwide for its perfect cone. With Cet Dematera and Celso Amo, AP

[Shiloh]

Re: Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...dMbiQD9CNLMDO0

Philippine volcano gets louder, could erupt soon

By BULLIT MARQUEZ (AP)
LEGAZPI, Philippines ? Philippine troops on Monday pressed the last 3,000 villagers who have refused to heed government warnings to leave the danger zone around a volcano that experts say is ready to erupt.

Tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated from the foothills of Mayon, which on Monday emitted lava fountains, powerful booming noises and other signs of an approaching eruption. But authorities are having trouble keeping villagers away from their homes and farms, said Gov. Joey Salceda.

"There are people who have been evacuated three times, and we sigh: 'You again?' " said Salceda of central Albay province. "We've been playing cat and mouse with them."

After a week of puffing out ash and sending bursts of lava trickling down its steep slopes, the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) mountain overlooking the Gulf of Albay and Legazpi city shook with nearly 2,000 volcanic earthquakes and tremors between Sunday and Monday, state volcanologists said.

The emission of sulfur dioxide ? an indication of magma rising inside the volcano ? jumped to 6,000 tons per day from the normal 500, said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. It also reported "audible booming and rumbling sounds" in the eastern flank of the volcano, accompanied by intensified crater glow at night.

Lava fountains bursting from the cone-shaped volcano overnight rose 650 feet (200 meters) in the air, the institute said.

Scientists raised the alert level Sunday to one step below a hazardous eruption, saying one was possible within days. The only higher level is when a major eruption is already in progress.

Army troops and police added more patrols to enforce a five-mile (eight-kilometer) exclusion zone around the mountain, Salceda said. The area is about 210 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

More than 44,000 residents were given sleeping mats and food inside school buildings, gyms and other emergency shelters, but some have still been spotted checking on their farms in the prohibited zone.

About 3,000 more villagers have held out, staying behind on the fringes of the danger zone out of concern for their homes and belongings. Many have been evacuated only to come back to tend to farms and property.

Army troops have been deployed to persuade them to move to safety, said Jukes Nunez, a disaster management official.

"We won't bodily carry them away because that will violate their rights," Nunez told The Associated Press. "But we've sent troops to persuade and nag them nonstop to move to safer areas."

Scientists said red hot lava flows had reached three miles (five kilometers) from the crater.

A major eruption could trigger pyroclastic flows ? superheated gas and volcanic debris that race down the slopes at very high speeds, vaporizing everything in their path. More extensive explosions of ash could drift toward nearby towns and cities. The provincial capital of Legazpi is about nine miles (15 kilometers) away.

In Mayon's other eruptions in recent years, pyroclastic flows had reached up to four miles (six kilometers) from the crater, Salceda said.

"The probability of survival in an eruption is zero if you're in the danger area. The solution is obviously distance," he told the AP.

Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were moved. Another eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.

The first recorded eruption was in 1616 but the most destructive came in 1814, killing more than 1,200 people and burying a town in volcanic mud. The ruins of the church in Cagsawa have become an iconic tourist spot.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo exploded in the northern Philippines in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report from Manila.

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt--Update

http://multimedia.asiaone.com/Multimedia/News/Story/A1Multimedia20091223-8977.html

[Shiloh]

Re: Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt--Update

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

Magma continues to build up in Mayon Volcano
By Cet Dematera (The Philippine Star) Updated December 28, 2009 12:00 AM


LEGAZPI, Philippines ? Magma continues to build up inside the lava-spilling Mayon Volcano despite a drop in earthquake activity but any lull in activity could be followed by a bigger eruption, scientists said yesterday.

A hazardous eruption remains possible within days and residents who live near the volcano?s slopes should not be misled into leaving the evacuation centers where they spent Christmas and venturing back to their homes, volcanologist Ed Laguerta warned.

?The number of volcanic earthquakes has gone down, but this is just part of the eruptive cycle of Mayon,? he said.

The number of quakes decreased from 871 recorded during the 24-hour period ending Friday morning to 406 recorded during the next 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Phivolcs said Mayon continued to display a high level of unrest yesterday, with nine ash explosions in the past 24 hours, accompanied by rumbling sounds.

Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said an aerial survey over Mayon confirmed that it is at an intense level of activity.

He said the explosions produced dirty white to brownish ash columns with lava fragments that reached heights from 800 to 1,000 meters above summit.

The seismic network detected 44 volcanic earthquakes and 297 rockfall events related to the detachment of lava fragments at the volcano?s upper slopes, Solidum said.

He said red hot lava continued to flow from the volcano.

Solidum said sulfur dioxide emission rate declined from 8,993 tons on Saturday to 2,304 tons yesterday.

The volcano?s edifice remained inflated despite having spilled more than 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) of lava over the last two weeks. That means the lava being released is being replaced by magma coming from beneath the volcano.

?We are looking not only at what Mayon is presently exhibiting, because that fluctuates. We are also looking at its past characteristics,? he said, recalling that in 1984, a four-day lull was followed by Mayon?s sudden, big eruption.

Phivolcs still maintained Alert Level 4 at the volcano which means that a hazardous eruption is possible within days.

More than 47,000 people living within a 5-mile (8-kilometer) danger zone around the volcano have fled to evacuation centers. But soldiers are still trying to evacuate several hundred residents who have refused to leave their homes despite the danger, said Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan, a military spokesman.

The 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) volcano known for its perfect cone has erupted nearly 40 times over 400 years, sending people packing for months at a time. But never has it happened during the all-important Christmas celebration, when Filipinos gather with family and friends for traditional meals and songs.

Evacuation centers have been the scenes of daily entertainment for the past week as officials try to keep frustrated residents from sneaking back to their homes. Food, clowns, gifts and games brought cheer to evacuees who spent Christmas in the crammed centers.

No outbreak of diseases in evacuation centers

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Elmer Punzalan yesterday allayed fears of a disease outbreak in evacuation centers in Albay saying that ?the situation is under control.?

Based on the disease surveillance report, some 236 evacuees are suffering from ailments like cough and colds, 67 from acute respiratory infection, 57 from fever, 15 from asthma and 14 from diarrhea.

Punzalan said nine teams of health professionals were dispatched in evacuations centers in Albay to provide medical assistance to thousands of individuals who were displaced by the Mayon volcano eruption.

?There were very few people who got sick,? Punzalan told the regular ?Balitaan sa Tinapayan? yesterday.

He said respiratory tract infection, sore eyes and colds are prevalent to evacuees after leaving their residences near Mayon volcano.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said at least nine more evacuation buildings will be constructed in the affected areas next year out of the P500-million grant from Japan and Spain.

?We need to live a normal life even with the presence of Mayon Volcano in our province,? Salceda told The STAR.

Meanwhile, it is no joke to take care of the concerns of displaced residents in Albay as the government spends P1.3 million a day for food for every Mayon eruption since 1993, according to a data obtained by The STAR.

Based on data furnished by the Provincial Disaster Operation Center (PDOC), during the 1993, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2009 Mayon eruptions, Albay province alone, excluding the own expenses of the affected cities or towns, had spent a total of P6,241,150 in food assistance in a day to the 7,882 families or 39,411 people in five major eruption intervals from 1993 to 2009. ? With Helen Flores, Celso Amo, AP