Ashfall from Mayon blankets parts of Albay
LEGAZPI CITY—Thin ashfall due to a lava dome collapse that generated pyroclastic density currents (PDCs or hot, fast-moving mixture of volcanic particles and gas) from the summit of Mayon Volcano blanketed some parts of Albay province on Thursday morning.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the event generated grayish ash clouds that rose about a kilometer before drifting west-northwest at 6:51 a.m.
The ashfall reached some parts of the cities of Legazpi and Ligao, and the towns of Guinobatan, Bacacay, Camalig and Daraga.
Gov. Noel Rosal said he had instructed the town officials to distribute face masks to the residents following the ashfall. He asked town officials to assess the situation and needs in their respective areas amid the activity of Mayon, currently on alert level 3 (high level of volcanic unrest).
On Wednesday, authorities reported completing the evacuation of 2,889 people living within the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone from the towns of Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan and Malilipot, and the cities of Ligao and Tabaco.
Rosal said once Phivolcs raises Mayon’s alert level to 4 (hazardous eruption imminent), about 50,000 to 70,000 families must be evacuated.
In its bulletin on Thursday, Phivolcs said 162 rockfall events, 50 PDCs and one volcanic earthquake were recorded on Mayon over the past 24 hours.
Crater glow
In a separate interview with dzMM Teleradyo, Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol explained that PDCs, locally known as “uson,” are dangerous as these are an avalanche of a mixture of ashes, rocks and gas which can flow as fast as 100 kilometers per hour.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday night, Phivolcs noted that a crater glow was seen between 6:36 p.m. and 7 p.m. after “superheated volcanic gas from new magma lights up the atmosphere above the crater.”
Bacolcol also said that no lava flow had been observed on Mayon.
“There is still no lava flow. Last night (Wednesday), we saw photos [on social media] of what seemed to be an incandescent [image on the volcano’s slopes]. We thought it was lava flow but it was hot rockfall,” he said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Bacolcol said: “This is already an eruption, a quiet one, with lava accumulating up the peak and swelling the dome, which cracked in some parts and resulted in rockfalls, some as big as cars.”
He said it was too early to tell if Mayon’s restiveness would worsen and lead to a major and violent eruption given the absence of other key signs of unrest, like a spike in volcanic earthquakes and high levels of sulfur dioxide emissions.
Assurance
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would provide all the needs of residents displaced by Mayon’s unrest.
Gatchalian, who visited several evacuation sites across the province on Thursday, said: “It’s the directive of [President Marcos] to ensure the safety and welfare of affected residents.”
The DSWD, he said, has sufficient supplies of food and nonfood items for evacuees.
“We are always ready. Whether the number of evacuees increases or the alert level is raised, we will provide for their needs as long as they remain in evacuation centers, as instructed by President Marcos,” he told the Inquirer.
Gatchalian said the DSWD had coordinated with local governments to establish temporary shelters, including modular tents and tent cities, to ensure privacy for evacuees and prevent disruption of classes in schools used as evacuation centers.
Norman Laurio, DSWD Bicol regional director, said social workers and their personnel would regularly visit evacuation centers to monitor the situation of evacuees. —WITH REPORTS FROM GABRIEL PABICO LALU AND AP
