Posted on 08/06/2006 10:42:37 PM PDT by HAL9000
[photo](2ND UPDATE) LEGAZPI CITY -- A mandatory evacuation of affected villagers living within the eight-kilometer (five-mile) radius around Mayon Volcano is ongoing as of posting time after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised the alert level to 4 amid forecast of an “imminent” eruption.
The Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) ordered that affected areas should be "no man's land" by noon Monday.
The Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office said that at least 74,069 people or 13,870 families from 40 villages in three cities and five municipalities faced evacuation.
Albay Governor Fernando Gonzales said on radio that trucks would be deployed for immediate mass evacuation.
Gonzales said that relief goods and evacuation centers were now all in place.
Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal said classes had been suspended in public schools that would house the evacuees.
Earlier on Monday, Mayon blasted 500-meter high ash columns into the air.
Materials thrown from the crater of the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) mountain could threaten anyone within eight kilometers, according to Phivolcs.
The institute had advised local officials in the central province of Albay to order the evacuation of 28 areas around the mountain, including parts of Legazpi City and the towns of Camalig, Daraga, Ligao, Malilipot, Santo Domingo, and Tabaco.
"Areas just outside of these [villages] should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify," the advisory said.
Volcanologists previously said an explosive eruption by Mayon, one of the country's most active volcanoes, could threaten the lives of about 60,000 people.
An explosive eruption could happen "possibly within the day," said Ernesto Corpus, chief of the government's Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Unit.
"We entered the explosive phase... Under alert level 4, we will evacuate those within eight kilometers [radius] from the volcano," Corpus told GMA Network television.
"There is a high possibility that there will be explosions today [Monday]," he added.
The volcano blasted "ash injections" some 300 to 500 meters high at around 7:30 a.m., video showed.
Over a week ago, lava started to flow from the volcano.
Corpus said that Mayon followed a pattern -- a major eruption followed lava flows and ash injections.
Mayon has had 47 eruptions in recorded history, the latest being a mild outpouring of lava in June 2001.
The volcano with a near-perfect cone buried the town of Cagsawa in the 19th century, killing an estimated 1,000 people.
Well, the machine has been calibrated. Now Karl needs to organize a few Richter 8-9 events in Iran and Bekaa valley.
Maybe algore can get the nations of the world to sign a treaty banning volcanic eruptions...
Is the volcano on Luzon? If not, which island is it on?
well, all of us FReeper single guys should go and find us a Filpino girl to marry and rescue them
More hot air and it isn't from Wash D.C.
Southern Luzon, the very tip of the Bicol region.
Thats the long southern tail of that island.
Its a very pretty volcano, and the region in general is "unspoiled" - not a tourist spot, though it should be.
Well, after the volcano is done with its problems for this season anyway.
The Mayon volcano has a pyroclastic history.
I spent 2 weeks in that area, in Santo Domingo and Tabaco, in 1980, with Campus Crusade for Christ. I also stayed in the smaller barrios. It really was a place of unspoiled tropical vegetation and friendly people.
My father was from Tabaco.
I'm glad you liked it.
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