A man is seen against the backdrop of restive Mayon Volcano in Legazpi City, Albay province.
DPA/Manila
The Philippine military set up checkpoints and patrols at the edge of an exclusion zone around a restive volcano to keep evacuated residents from returning, officials said yesterday.
Nearly 32,000 residents have been moved from an expanded 8km danger zone around Mayon Volcano in Albay province, 330km southeast of Manila, amid warnings of an impending eruption, the regional disaster relief agency said.
“We want to prevent residents from returning to attend to their farmland, gather wood or hunt for animals,” said army commander Colonel Raul Farnacio about the precautionary measure.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda ordered the mandatory evacuation of nearly 52,000 residents after government scientists raised the alert at Mayon to level three on September 15, which means an eruption was possible within weeks.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it has monitored an increasing number of tremors and rockfalls as well as a bright crater glow from the summit, indicating that “potentially eruptible magma” was moving up the crater.
Since the institute raised the alert at Mayon to level three on Monday night, the number of volcanic earthquakes rose to 45 in the past 24 hours from 32 in the previous 24 hours and rockfalls increased to 270 from 79, according to its latest bulletin.
The alert level three means that “magma is at the crater and that hazardous eruption is possible within weeks”, the institute said.
Three cities and five towns were affected by the governor’s evacuation order, according to the national disaster relief agency.
At least 10,593 people have so far been moved to safe areas since Tuesday, said Major-General Ricardo Visaya, a regional military commander.
Dozens of military trucks were ferrying the residents to evacuation centres, Visaya said.
The 2,472m volcano is famous for its nearly symmetrical cone, which attracts thousands of foreign and local tourists every year.
Local authorities have restricted trekking and ATV tours at the volcano amid the threat of an eruption, which was expected to draw visitors.
They have identified six safe viewing areas for tourists to witness the fiery display.
In past eruptions, flights to the nearest city of Legazpi were cancelled because Mayon usually ejects ash high up into the air.
Mayon has erupted about 50 times since 1616.
Its most violent eruption was in 1814 when more than 1,200 people were killed and a town was buried in volcanic mud.
In May 2013, sudden explosions from the crater killed four foreign tourists and a Filipino guide.
An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.
