Thousands of people were evacuated as Mayon Volcano remains unrest.
MAYON VOLCANO – The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology gives an update, while OCD orders the evacuation of people.
Phivolcs
) renewed warnings about the dangers of hazardous pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), which occur without any warning.
Over the past 24 hours, state volcanologists recorded 131 rockfall events. This record significantly surpassed the 85 incidents that prompted the alert escalation earlier this week.
To recall, on January 6, Phivolcs raised the volcano’s status to Alert Level 3. This declaration prompted the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to order mandatory evacuations in areas in the six-kilometer permanent danger zone around the volcano.
As of the latest, more than 3,000 people have been evacuated due to an increase in rockfall incidents. OCD 5 Regional Director Claudio Yucot said 3,515 people, or 964 families, have been evacuated as of Wednesday, January 7.
“So, sa ngayon ay nakaantabay ‘yung ating mga response cluster upang tugunan mga pangangailanan ng ating mga residente na na-evacuate natin na nasa loob ng evacuation centers,”
he said in an interview.
Yucot added that they are also closely monitoring rainfall caused by the shear line, as it could potentially trigger lahar flows. Moreover, if the rainfall intensity reaches 13 millimeters per hour, the agency already identified the areas that people should evacuate, and a further increase in the alert level would prompt the evacuation of people from outside the PDZ.
“So mas marami-rami po ‘yun, ang total po nun ay 79,0000 individuals. Ganoon po kadami ‘yun,”
he said.