Mayon shoots up ash anew

LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines  – Restive Mayon Volcano in Albay exploded ash again at least half-kilometer above the crater at around 7:59 p.m. Friday, an event which was preceded by rumblings and close to 50 volcanic quakes, monitoring stations of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) here reported yesterday.

Even before the minor ash explosion took place, villagers at the foot of Mayon texted radio stations here of the rumblings and human-felt quakes underneath the volcano.

Danny Bon, Mayon watcher based at Phivolcs’ Lignon Hill observatory here, said that their seismographs recorded a three-minute harmonic tremor at around 8p.m. though admitted that they failed to observe the actual explosion. 

Phivolcs’ records showed that the ash explosion happened exactly a month after Mayon scalded ash clouds up to one-kilometer above its crater on Nov.30, which blanketed villages in Guinobatan town with half-inch thick ashfalls.

Bon said though that these ash explosions remained within the abnormal parameters of Mayon’s alert level two status.     – Cet Dematera