Dozens of villages near Philippines' Mayon Volcano must be evacuated, say officials

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) — At least 30 villages near the Philippines' restive Mayon Volcano need to be permanently evacuated, the country's volcanology and seismology authority said on Sunday.

After recently placing the 2,463-meter (8,081 foot) volcano in central Albay province on alert level three, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology called for the "permanent" evacuation of the villages located within Mayon's permanent danger zone, a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius, reported the Manila Times, a local English daily.

The institute said it made the decision due to the increased risk of "hazardous eruption," stressing that local officials must ensure the affected villagers are evacuated to safer areas.

Citing the institute's director, Teresito Bacolcol, the newspaper said authorities were considering extending the permanent danger zone to 8 kilometers so more people would be evacuated.

The plan will be enforced if the institute raises Mayon's alert level to four, on the scale of five, which Bacolcol said could happen given the continued rise in the number and volume of rock-fall events in the last few days.

He said sulfur dioxide emissions had also increased beyond baseline levels to 1,205 tons per day.

"We are closely assessing Mayon's behavior as we are looking at other parameters aside from SO2, the increase in seismicity and other manifestations like lava fountaining and lava flow before placing it under Alert Level 4," he was quoted as saying.

He also warned that even under level four, a hazardous eruption could be expected.

Albay is located on the eastern coast of the Philippines, facing the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean.