By AP and Aaron B. Recuenco
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – Lava fountaining regularly from Mayon Volcano has flowed up to three kilometers from the crater in a dazzling but increasingly dangerous eruption.
Mount Mayon has spewed lava up to 2,000 feet high at times Tuesday and early yesterday and its ash plumes stretched up to five kilometers above the crater.
Lava flows in two gullies had advanced down the volcano’s slopes more than a kilometer and pyroclastic flows – superheated gas and volcanic debris – had reached five kilometers from the crater in one area, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said yesterday morning.
An explosion from the crater at nightfall Tuesday was capped by one of the most massive lava displays since Mayon started erupting more than a week ago.
Authorities on Monday expanded the no-go zone to eight kilometers from the crater and have warned a violent eruption may occur in hours or days, characterized by more rumblings and pyroclastic flows that will vaporize everything in their path.
At least 56,217 people were taking shelter in 46 evacuation camps Tuesday and the Army and police were helping others leave the danger zone.
Authorities, however, struggled to prevent villagers from sneaking back to check on their homes and farms and watch a popular cockfight in Santo Domingo, Albay despite the risks and police patrols and checkpoints.
In a sign of desperation, Cedric Daep, a provincial disaster response official, told a news conference that he has recommended electricity and water supplies be cut within the no-go zones to discourage residents from returning.
“If pyroclastic flows hit people, there is no chance for life,” Daep said. “Let us not violate the natural law, avoid the prohibited zone, because if you violate, the punishment is the death penalty.”
Volcanic ash has darkened the skies over nearby barangays in coconut-growing Albay where Mayon lies.
More than 30,000 ash masks, along with food, water, and medicine, have been sent to the region, but officials have warned that relief supplies may run out by mid-February if the eruption continues and new supplies don’t arrive in time.
Mayon has long been popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently.
In 2013, an ash eruption killed five climbers who had ventured near the summit despite warnings. Its most destructive eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried Cagsawa in volcanic mud. The belfry of Cagsawa’s stone church still juts from the ground in an eerie reminder of Mayon’s fury.