Mayon blast forces evacuation in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY — Residents living within the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) of Mt. Mayon evacuated from their homes on Friday following the volcano’s explosive eruption, with local authorities rushing to move families to safer grounds.

Some residents described the explosion as sounding like a bomb blast, prompting them to seek shelter in evacuation centers rather than risk staying in their communities.

Eleazar Nogot and his wife said they did not hesitate to leave after Camalig Mayor Carlos Irwin Baldo ordered the evacuation.

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READ: BREAKING: Mayon Volcano erupts, sends ash plume 3,000 meters high

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“We did not hesitate to go to the evacuation center when the mayor ordered us to evacuate. We don’t want to be scolded, and besides, we feel safe here,” Nogot said.

In Camalig, at least 205 families living within the 6-km PDZ were being evacuated as of Friday, according to Rommel Negrete, chief of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

Negrete said the municipal government had raised a red alert status of its Emergency Operations Center as evacuation operations continued. They also distributed face masks to residents as a precaution against ashfall, with trace amounts reported in Barangay Mayon Unit and other communities in the town center.

READ: Mayon Volcano’s alert level raised to 3 after eruption

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Meanwhile, farmers rushed to harvest their rice crops to prevent possible losses from ashfall.

“We just want to make sure that all our efforts in planting will not go to waste. We spent a lot on this, so it is better to save our crops,” farmer Jason Vibar said.

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Continuous monitoring

Oscar Robert Cristobal, chief of Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said they were expecting to evacuate 1,131 families from Tabaco City, Ligao City and the towns of Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga and Malilipot, particularly in areas inside the PDZ.

Authorities are expecting more explosive eruptions could occur in Mayon as its monitoring parameters remain elevated following Friday’s moderately explosive eruption that sent an ash plume 3 km above the summit, a volcanologist warned.

Antonia Bornas, chief of the Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), told the Inquirer that Mayon continued to emit high levels of sulfur dioxide, indicating the presence of magma beneath the volcano.

Before the eruption at 11:53 a.m. on Friday, Mayon recorded 101 volcanic earthquakes, including 18 tremors lasting up to eight minutes. Its sulfur dioxide emission was measured at 1,413 metric tons per day, Phivolcs said.

The eruption lasted nearly six minutes, from 11:53:40 a.m. to 11:59:36 a.m..

Moderate winds carried the plume west-southwest, prompting Phivolcs to warn of possible ashfall in Daraga, Guinobatan and nearby areas. Ashfall was subsequently reported in parts of Guinobatan.

Following the eruption, Phivolcs raised Mayon’s alert status from level 2 to level 3, indicating increased magmatic activity and the possibility of lava flows and hazardous pyroclastic density currents.

Bornas said sustained gas emissions could indicate that volcanic conduits had become obstructed, allowing pressure to build up beneath the volcano and potentially trigger further explosive activity.

She explained that explosive eruptions produce finer volcanic materials than lava flows or Strombolian activity, which generally ejects larger fragments. The finer particles have different optical properties, causing the ash plume to appear lighter in color.

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Bornas said it remained uncertain whether Friday’s eruption was an isolated event or would be followed by more explosive episodes. —WITH A REPORT FROM LUISA CABATO