More than 12,800 people were evacuated from their homes and taken to shelters in the Philippines this Sunday (11). According to information, they were evacuated because they were too close to the area where the possible eruption of the Mayon volcano, located about 330 kilometers southeast of the country’s capital, Manila, could occur. The volcano, which since Thursday (8) has been on alert 3 (on a scale whose maximum is 5), continues to produce volcanic earthquakes and cause rockslides across the region.
The Philippine government’s natural disaster management agency said on Sunday that more than 12,804 people from 3,538 families had been taken to 22 shelter centers less than six kilometers from the volcano, which is in the province of Albay, in the east of the island of Luzon.
With the declaration of a state of calamity in the province on Friday (9), the authorities released relief funds to help these families, who may be forced to remain in the centers for several days or weeks, depending on the risk of eruption.
The Philippine seismological agency (Phivolcs) said in a report on Sunday that 177 episodes of rockslides and a volcanic earthquake were recorded yesterday and maintained the level 3 alert for the risk of an eruption “in the coming days or weeks”.
Rocks and lava fell as far as 700 meters from the crater, which continues to spew ash and gas.
Magma activity in the crater and increased pressure led to the emergence of a new lava dome on the summit, a circular mound that displaced the previous one, according to photos released by Phivolcs.
Mayon, one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippine archipelago, is also a major tourist attraction in the region, due to the beauty of its almost perfect conical shape. Its last eruption was in 2018, when tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated.
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