THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has recorded 107 volcanic earthquakes at the restive Mayon Volcano from 5 a.m. Monday morning to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
It is the highest number of volcanic earthquakes monitored by Phivolcs since the volcano was placed under Alert Level 3 (increased tendency towards hazardous eruption) last June 8.
This is also the second time that volcanic quakes at Mayon breached the 100-mark. Last Monday, Phivolcs reported 102 volcanic quakes at Mayon, covering the period of Sunday morning to Monday morning.
In its bulletin Tuesday, Phivolcs said it recorded 241 rockfall events, 17 pyroclastic density current events and 753 tons of sulfur dioxide emission, from the previous 263 rockfall events, eight pyroclastic density current events, and 925 tons of sulfur dioxide emission.
Phivolcs said their monitoring showed that “Mayon is still inflated, especially on the northwest and southeast.”
“Alert Level 3 is maintained over Mayon Volcano, which means that it is currently in a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption within weeks or even days is possible,” it said.
It also observed a “very slow effusion of lava” from the volcano’s crater, which advanced to 1.6 kilometers and 1.2 kilometers along Mi-isi and Bonga gullies, respectively.
It added Mayon is continuing with its “moderate degassing” which produced steam-laden plumes that rose 750 meters.
The unrest of Mayon has affected 10,642 families or 41,483 individuals as of Tuesday morning, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.
Of the number, 5,762 families or 20,134 individuals remain displaced — 5,354 families or 18,706 individuals are housed in 28 evacuation centers, and 408 families or 1,428 individuals are with their relatives and friends.
NDRRMC said P105.16 million worth of assistance have been already provided to those affected, including family food packs worth P27.84 million and P18.6 million in financial assistance.
