Mayon erupts for second day, more than 30,000 displaced

January 23, 2018

Dense volcanic ash blown west that landed on five municipalities followed by five "intense and sporadic lava fountaining" from the crater of Mayon in Albay province from Monday evening to Tuesday morning forced more residents to leave their homes as the volcano erupted for the second day.

"The lava fountains reached 500 meters to 700 meters high and generated ash plumes that reached 2.5 kilometers to 3 kilometers above the crater. The events fed lava flows on the Miisi and Bonga Gullies, sprayed near-vent lava spatter and fed incandescent rockfall on the summit area," said a bulletin of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Tuesday.

Persons displaced from Mayon's activity reached more than 30,000, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

“The latest report that we received shows we have recorded a total of 7,455 families or 28,846 people inside evacuation centers and we also recorded 1,580 families or 6,850 persons who went to their relatives,” NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan said.

Displaced families are recorded in Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Ligao City, Malilipot, Santo Domingo and Tabaco City.

Marasigan said the number of displaced persons increased after the danger zone was extended to eight kilometers when Phivolcs raised its Mayon Volcano alert to level four on Monday.

She also noted there were other local government units in the province who evacuated families within a nine kilometer zone.

“This is the call of the local government if they still want to extend the danger zone,” Marasigan added.

Marasigan said the government has provided “26,876,683.89 worth of assistance” for the affected population in Albay.

“These include food and non-food items. We also have ( funds) for logistics,” she said.

Marasigan said the national government is providing assistance to the affected families.

“We have relief prepositioned on the ground. The national (government) is sending augmentation because we are using what we have prepositioned at the regional. So, we have relief supplies that arrived there. I think today and then we will also send additional,” she said.

Marasigan added they are set to prepare needed relief goods for three months per the request of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“The DSWD is already requesting (for relief goods) that are good for three months so we are gearing up the supply of family food packs that are needed there,” she said. Robina Asido/DMS