Govt: Brace for Mayon's hazardous explosion

Residents of towns near Mt. Mayon in Albay province should brace themselves for a hazardous eruption after Christmas, a government volcanologist said Saturday. Mayon’s intensified abnormal activities within the past 24 hours may indicate a more hazardous explosion in two to three weeks, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. said in a GMA News report. “The intensified activities of Mt. Mayon is an indication that the explosion is nearing. The probability that the eruption would be more hazardous is increasing. This might still take time, say, in two to three weeks," he said in a television interview. However, Solidum warned that the volcano might explode at an earlier time should the Mayon’s abnormal activities intensify even more. “Sometimes, sudden intensification occurs. This will ultimately determine when the eruption will take place," he said. Alert level 3 remains hoisted over Mayon volcano, although state volcanologists are considering on raising it to Level 4 after 197 volcanic quakes were recorded around the area within the past 24 hours, Solidum said.

See the complete table on the Phivolcs website.

Mayon has also continued spewing ash plumes as high as two kilometers into the air, resulting in heavy ashfall in the nearby towns of Guinobatan and Camalig. Some 8,000 families have already been brought in 23 evacuation centers in Albay since Mayon’s renewed volcanic activity early Monday. - GMANews.TV