MAYON Volcano in Albay had fewer volcanic earthquakes and rockfall events from Sunday morning to yesterday morning compared to the previous 24-hour monitoring period.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it has recorded three volcanic earthquakes and 295 rockfall events at Mayon from 5 a.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. yesterday.
There were four volcanic earthquakes and 397 rockfall events recorded by Phivolcs at Mayon from 5 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Sunday.
Phivolcs said it recorded two pyroclastic density current events from Sunday morning to yesterday morning, which is similar to the previous monitoring period.
Mayon’s sulfur dioxide emission increased to 962 tons, from previous 864 tons.
Phivolcs also said Mayon continued with its “very slow effusion of lava from the summit crater.” The lava flow at the Mi-isi and Boga gullies has reached 2.7 km and 1.3 km, respectively, from the crater.
Mayon Volcano remains under Alert Level 3 (increased tendency towards hazardous eruption), which was declared on June 8.
Mayor Jun Aguas of Sto Domingo town in Albay said some residents evacuated last Friday due to increase in lava discharge from Mayon.
He said the residents from barangays Lidong, Fidel Surtida, Santa Misericordia and San Fernando were living as far as seven to eight km from the volcano.
Under Alert Level 3, only residents living inside the six-km permanent danger zone (PDZ) are supposed to be evacuated. At present, there are about 20,000 evacuees due to the unrest of Mayon.
“As of now they are now in three evacuation sites here in Sto Domingo,” said Aguas.
“During that night, Friday night, the residents already evacuated themselves because most of them feared the discharge of lava… It was a scary site so the residents of Sto Domingo were quite scared,” Aguas said.
About two weeks ago, Aguas told his constituents, who went to the evacuation centers though they are living outside PDZ, to return to their residences. He issued the order after Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman said only residents inside the six-km PDZ are supposed to be staying in evacuation centers.
