By Ellalyn de Vera-Ruiz and Francis T. Wakefield
It is business as usual in Albay’s premier city of Legazpi amid the imminent eruption of Mayon volcano.
Situated 14 kilometers away from the country’s most active volcano, Legazpi is beyond the reach of its destructive force, but residents are preparing for possible ash falls.
“People are buying face masks,” said Myra Marbella, operation officer of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) yesterday.
A total of 38,939 individuals from 36 barangays in Albay have been evacuated according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
The latest evacuation took place in Santo Domingo due to threats of lahar and mud flows as a result of heavy rains overnight.
Legazpi is now home to more than 11,000 evacuees mostly women and children, according to Marbella who is at the helm of city’s disaster efforts.
“At the moment, the local government is providing for their needs, pero kung tumagal, we may have to seek help from the national government,” said Marbella.
Marbella, who has been with the CDRRMC since 2004, said Mayon’s eruption has been long in coming.
“We have been under Alert Level 1 since July last year,” she said.
If there’s one positive thing that a rumbling Mayon brings, Marbella said tourism is booming.
Tourists, foreign and local alike, are coming in droves to watch the spectacle specially at night, according to Marbella.
The volcano has been spewing lava and hurling rocks, leading to ash clouds drifting toward southwest.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said pressure is building up at Mayon and has recorded 143 lava collapse events since Tuesday morning.
Phivolcs noted that the lava collapses triggered a rockfall along the front and margins of advancing lava and pyroclastic flows into Miisi, Matanag, and Buyuan Gullies, located within the six-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ), leading to ash clouds drifting towards southwest.
It also observed increasing sulfur dioxide emission, measuring at an average of 3,293 tons per day. Phivolcs said sulfur dioxide is one of the components of magma or lava.
According to Science and Technology Undersecretary Renato Solidum, the impending eruption of Mayon Volcano is not expected to be as massive as that of Mt. Pinatubo, citing the different magma composition of the two volcanoes.
Mayon Volcano had 51 major eruptions in history compared with Mt. Pinatubo which only had two (June 1991 and July 1992).
Alert level 3 remains in effect over Mayon Volcano as it continues to be in a high level of unrest.
Phivolcs said magma is creeping up the restive volcano’s crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days.
The public is advised to be vigilant and to stay away from the PDZ and the seven-kilometer extended danger zone on the southern flanks due to the danger of rockfalls, landslides and sudden explosions or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows.
Increased vigilance against pyroclastic density currents, lahars and sediment-laden streamflows along channels draining the edifice is also advised.
Civil aviation authorities were also asked to advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ejecta from any sudden phreatic eruption can be hazardous to aircraft.
Meantime, NDRRMC yesterday said that the number of families affected by Mayon’s increasing unrest has already reached 9,480 or 38,939 from 36 barangays in Albay province.
NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan said the number of families to be evacuated increased after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Albay decided that residents in nine barangays in the municipality of Santo Domingo and Legazpi City, be evacuated due to threats of lahar and mud flow brought about by heavy rains.
Others affected by Mayon’s unrest came from the municipalities Camalig, Guinobatan, Daraga, Malilipot as well as from Ligao City and Tabaco City in the province of Albay.
Marasigan said the affected residents are currently staying in 30 evacuation centers and added that Albay is now under a state of calamity due to Mayon’s restiveness.