(Eagle News Service) — Mount Mayon remains in Alert Level 3, despite quiet lava flow activities early Sunday, a Palace official said.
“Batay sa pinakahuling ulat ng NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council), umiiral ang Alert Level 3 sa Mount Mayon na ang ibig sabihin ay ito: that magma is at the center of the volcano and that hazardous eruption is possible within weeks,” Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., said an interview over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.
According to the latest update for Mayon volcano from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), there had been a quiet lava flow Sunday morning in Mayon.
“Visual and aerial observations this morning found a short and stubby lava flow approximately 350m in length, slowly and quietly flowing down the eastern side of Bonga Gully along the southeast slope of Mayon Volcano (13.2500°N, 123.6833°E). The small number of volcanic earthquakes and rockfall events for the past few days suggest a sluggish movement of the lava flow, and slow extrusion of lava from the crater,” Phivolcs’ latest update said.
PHIVOLCS said that Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Mayon Volcano.
“This means that magma is at the crater and that a hazardous eruption is possible within weeks,” it said.
Phivolcs also recommended that the 6-km radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) around the volcano and the 7-km Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) on the southeastern flank be enforced due to the danger of rock falls, landslides and sudden explosions or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows.
The NDRRMC estimated that the people in evacuation areas have now reached some 12,931 families or 57,633 persons, from two cities and five municipalities in Albay.
Communications Secretary Coloma noted that the the total combined assistance extended by the government and non-government organization (NGO) is now at P88,773,524.
This came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Office of Civil Defense, Department of Health (DOH), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), PhilHealth, Department of Education (DepEd), the Philippine Red Cross, and other NGOs.
Coloma added that members of the Cabinet are set to visit Albay to assess the situation in the evacuation centers.
These are Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Social Secretary Dinky Soliman, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, along with retired Admiral Alexander Pama, the executive director of NDRRMC. (Eagle News Service with PND report)
