Sunday, August 09, 2009

Mayon Volcano, Philippines - John Seach

Ashfall was reported at Tabaco City and areas of Guinobatan town, surrounding Mayon volcano in the Philippines. Seismic activity did not indicate an eruption, and visual observations were not possible due to meteorological cloud in the area. There is a possibility that strong winds mobilised old ash deposits, or rockfalls caused the ashfall. In the past 24-hour observation period, PHIVOLCS reported 1,308 tons of sulfur dioxide emission from the volcano. Mayon remains at alert level 2, and there is a 6 km permanent exclusion zone, and 7 km extended danger zone at the southeast flank of the volcano. If the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raises the volcano alert to level 3, 13,458 families or 47,018 people from the two cities and five towns would be evacuated to safer areas. People are advised to avoid the danger zone due to risk of pyroclastic flows, explosions and lava flows. Village leaders around the volcano have been issued with mountain bikes, megaphones, whistles, pocket-sized AM/FM transistor radios , flashlights and basic life support kits, to assist any evacuation. At Pinatubo volcano north of Manila, heavy rains caused mudflows which killed 12 climbers.
More on Mayon Volcano...