The majesty and the fury

MANILA, Philippines - Dumadagundong. Reverberating. That was how STAR photographer Edd Gumban described the rumblings of Mayon volcano during the days when she was most active, from Dec. 18 to 21. As Mayon became increasingly restive, Edd was sent to Legaspi City in Albay province on Dec. 15 and placed on Mayon-watch, to capture the majesty and the fury of the country’s most active – and most beautiful – volcano.

“It was like thunder, you could hear it and feel it,” he says, and then the “cauliflower” of smoke and ash and volcanic material would spew out of the crater, and sometimes it would rain fire, like a fountain.

Edd and a group of about 20 media people spent their days and nights going around the towns and barangays surrounding Mayon – Legaspi, Guinobatan, Camalig, Cagsawa, Ligao... many within the six- and eight-kilometer danger zones declared by authorities. In Bgy. Mabinit at the foot of the volcano and in the direct path of danger, residents refused to leave their homes and their farms. “It seemed like, somehow, they knew Mayon would not erupt,” Edd says.

Christmas Eve was spent at evacuation centers, and on New Year’s Eve they went to a high point in Bgy. Taysan, from which they had a panoramic view of Mayon looming over Legaspi City. A fireworks show at the newly-opened Embarcadero greeted the New Year, but the best show was still Mayon, which obliged with a light show at midnight, then hid behind thick cloud cover minutes after midnight.

Edd came back to Manila on Jan. 3, and because Mayon was not quite done, STAR photographer Ernie Peñaredondo took up post in Legaspi, sending in his share of photos of Mayon in all her majesty.