Power cables for Mayon telescope stolen

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines  – Thieves have stolen the power supply cables of the Muon telescope used in monitoring activity of Mount Mayon in Albay, officials said Wednesday.

The robbery occurred last month at the monitoring station of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) located at the Mayon Resthouse in Barangay Buang in Tabaco City.

The loss of the cables disrupted the monitoring of the volcano’s status, which remain at Alert Level 2.

“The robbers destroyed the door, took the copper wires and tried but failed to carry a 50-kilo battery ,” Phivolcs Mayon resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta said  during a meeting of the Albay provincial disaster risk reduction and management council.

“We are asking the police to recover the stolen cables as these are important for the operation of the Muon telescope,” said Laguerta.

Laguerta said the break in could have happened between Feb. 23 and 24.

“Barangay officials of Buang reported the break in to the police,” he said.

The Phivolcs monitoring station, which house the Muon telescope, is located three and a half kilometer from the volcano’s crater.

The telescope was installed in March last year as part of the observance of the 200th anniversary of the volcano’s eruption in 1814.

Albay is the first beneficiary of the Muon telescope in Asia as part of a research project between Phivolcs and the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) and the Nanyang University.

Laguerta said they informed the EOS about the loss of the power supply cables.

Senior Superintendent Marlo Meneses, provincial police director, said he would tap barangays officials and watchmen to help identify suspects.

He said they would coordinate with junkshop owners in the area to track down the thieves.