Mayon seen to erupt in just days if…

LEGAZPI CITY — Mayon Volcano may erupt in just days if its abnormal behavior persists, government volcanologists said yesterday.

According to Alex Baloloy, the volcano’s sulfur dioxide emissions exceeded 11,000 tons yesterday, compared to 8,724 tons the previous day, and that lava flows were expanding at 250 meters per day.

Baloloy said they also detected 423 tremor episodes and eight volcanic earthquakes.

Ernesto Corpus, volcano monitoring division chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said an eruption may come in days, gauging from the volcano’s heightened abnormality.

"Mayon may proceed to an eruption in just days if its abnormal behavior continues," he said.

For his part, Baloloy said, "If I am to scale it from 1 to 10, the chance that Mayon Volcano would erupt is between 8 and 9."

Alert level 3 remains in effect around Mayon, which means that the six-kilometer radius permanent danger zone should be off-limits, Phivolcs said in its bulletin.

It alerted residents outside the danger zone, particularly in Barangays Mabinit, Bonga, Matanag and Buyuan in the southeast and Miisi in the south to be on "full alert" because "volcanic flows and related phenomena" may affect their villages. — With Sheila Crisostomo