Lunar eclipse won’t trigger Mayon eruption

MANILA, Philippines - The total lunar eclipse last night would not trigger an eruption of Mt. Mayon in Albay and other active volcanoes in the country, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said yesterday.

“The gravitational pull of a full moon may have an effect on magma in a volcano, which is ready to erupt like Mayon, but this does not mean a full moon can trigger an eruption,” Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said.

The eclipse would have little, if any, effect on Mayon’s possible eruption, Solidum said.

He explained that it is not the eclipse that some volcanologists are looking at as a possible factor in eruptions, but the earth’s tide, which is at its maximum during new moon or full moon.

“Some eruptions coincided with maximum tide but not many,” he said. “But a volcano must have eruptible magma for one to consider the influence of the moon.”

Phivolcs volcanologist Jack Puertollano said they have analyzed the eruptions of Taal Volcano and Mayon when the moon was full and found no cause-and-effect link.

Mayon Volcano’s status yesterday remained at Alert Level 3, which means that magma is at the crater and that hazardous eruption is possible within weeks.

Phivolcs reported one rockfall event and weak emission of white steam plumes drifting northwest during the past 24 hours.

It said the volcano’s sulfur dioxide flux was measured at 444 tons last Tuesday, lower than the average 500 tons per day.

Activities prohibited around Mayon

Meanwhile, the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has prohibited all-terrain vehicle tours, trekking, playing golf and all other activities within Mayon Volcano’s permanent danger zone (PDZ).

Phivolcs officials have warned of a possible big blast of Mayon due to a gargantuan lava dome that has accumulated at the volcano’s crater in recent weeks.

However, droves of foreign and local tourists have been flocking to the province by bus or plane via the Legazpi Domestic Airport, which is 18 kilometers away from the volcano’s PDZ.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said tourists could pose problems in their evacuation operations, “but there’s no way to stop them from watching the world’s most perfect cone volcano blow its top, which is a once-in-a lifetime chance.”

Salceda said with residents along Mayon’s danger zones now moved out of harm’s way, “the probability of a Vulcanian-Strombollian eruption is just another geological phenomenon waiting to happen, yet could be the biggest touristic event in the country this year.”

Visitors usually watch lava and pyroclastic materials cascade down Mayon’s southeastern slope, especially on clear nights.

Salceda said it is their policy not to promote disaster tourism “in respect to the dignity of the displaced families.”

“We would rather have Alert 0 and still gain a lot of tourists by investing in aggressive promotion rather than spend the same for protracted evacuation.”

He said maintaining evacuees for months, as in Mayon’s past eruptions, is more taxing, worrisome and expensive than an aggressive tourism promotion. 

The council recommended Ligñon Hill, Cagsawa Ruins Park, Daraga Church, Legazpi City Boulevard, Taysan Hills and Quituinan Hills as areas where tourists could view the volcano.