The Philippine government has instructed thousands of its citizens to evacuate the area around Mt. Mayon as the country’s most active volcano is expected to erupt, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
Mayon began spewing ash and smoke Sunday as lava began rising in its crater, and experts from Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PIVS) warned the volcano could be weeks or days away from a “hazardous eruption,” the AP reported. The volcano’s activity has been “non-explosive” so far, but authorities have ordered the evacuation of thousands residents in surrounding villages, moving roughly 1,000 families to shelters as of Sunday.
Ash and smoke spew from the Philippine’s most active volcano, Mount Mayon, as thousands of residents are told to evacuate, warned of a ‘hazardous eruption’ becoming increasingly likely. https://t.co/cJC0koMBIq pic.twitter.com/5lfID7NflN
— ABC News (@ABC) January 14, 2018
“Lava has flowed out of the volcano’s crater already but it’s just starting. It’s a non-explosive eruption,” PIVS head Renato Solidum told the AP. “We have to verify tomorrow if it will flow continuously.”
Authorities have cut off air traffic near Mayon and further advised residents to cover their mouths with a damp, clean cloth or a dust mask when ash clouds are overhead, Reuters reported. The country upped its volcano alert to level three after the orange glow of magma was visible around Mayon’s crest Sunday. Alert level three indicates a “critical” threat, four indicates an imminent eruption, and five indicates an eruption in-progress, Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, told Reuters.
PIVS has confirmed at least 158 rockfalls since Mayon reawakened and have expanded the volcano’s “danger zone” to a 7km radius.
Mayon has reportedly erupted 50 times in the last 500 years, but not always violently. It’s most damaging eruption came in 1841, when magma exploded from the mountain, killing 1,200 people and burying a town. The volcano’s most recent deadly activity came in 2013 when it suddenly spewed clouds of ash, killing five climbers.
The nearby residents in the majority-Catholic country have erected massive white crosses between their buildings and the volcano in prayer to fend off an eruption or keep their belongings in the event of one.
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