Danger zones around Mayon declared high-risk areas

LEGAZPI CITY — Volcanologists warned yesterday there should be no human activity within the declared danger zones around Mayon volcano since the lava flow can no longer be contained by channels and gullies running the length of its slopes.

"All existing danger zones should be regarded as very high-risk areas and should remain off-limits until further notice," the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned in yesterday’s bulletin.

Helma Canon, a volcanologist at the Phivolcs’ Ligñon Hill Observatory, said the big channels and gullies, particularly Buyuan, Bonga and Mabinit here, Basud in Sto. Domingo, and Miisi in Daraga, were observed to be full of lava, which started to flow on July 14.

"Because the lava is no longer confined in the these channels, its fronts had been heading towards any direction now. This could be dangerous to those who are still entering the six-kilometer permanent danger zone," Canon told The STAR.

Phivolcs said Mayon remained in a "mild state of eruption as magma ascends and extrudes lava."

Volcanologists recorded at least 17 volcanic quakes indicating continued magma ascent towards the crater, some 303 tremors reflecting lava flow and rockfalls, and sulfur dioxide emission measured at still very high volume of 5,401 tons, in the past 24 hours.

Phivolcs resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta said Mayon remained in a high level of unrest and experts cannot discern any pattern that would indicate whether the volcano is simmering down or gearing up for a bigger explosion.

"We have yet to observe a consistent pattern before we could safely tell that Mayon’s abnormal activity is going down already," he said.

Meanwhile, relief goods from private groups and individuals continue to pour into the different evacuation centers here.

Businessman Lucio Tan distributed assorted goods at the Daraga and Legazpi City evacuation centers. Earlier, former congressman Mark Jimenez donated goods and cash to the evacuees here.

Some P15-million worth of donations in cash and in kind have been given to the 28 evacuation centers occupied by close to 42,000 people displaced by Mayon eruption, data reaching the disaster control offices here showed yesterday. — With Sheila Crisostomo, Celso Amo