LEGAZPI CITY—The threat of hot lava flowing down the slopes of the restive Mayon Volcano continues unabated even as the volcano showed a lull in activity during the past week.
Lahar flow was earlier reported with a concentration of up to 3 kilometers (km) since the past week until it breached to a higher distance by an estimated 300 meters more.
Reduced Mayon activity gave clearance to the thousands evacuees to return home. There were more than 80,000 evacuees languishing in 72 evacuation centers in Albay.
Cedric Daep, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council head, clarified that only those within the 9-km extended danger zone were given the clearance to go home.
He added that while many evacuees are sneaking to return home, Mayon guards are posted 24 hours to ensure none of the evacuees are returning to the 8-km extended danger zone.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) said Mayon has been ejecting an average of 1,583 metric tons of sulphur dioxide daily since its January 13 eruption, and about 2 millions cubic meters of lava. Last week the 3-km lava flow concentration was raised to 4 km, then to 4.3 km last Friday on the Buyuan-Bonga gulley of Legazpi, while the lava flow via the Miisi gulley in Daraga town had reached the 3-km parameter.
With substantial lava deposits, uninterrupted rainfalls worsen the situation with the lava flow going beyond 4.3 km to include other channels and gullies, the Phivolcs official said. Last Saturday and Sunday rainfalls hit Albay again.
Records at the Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction showed that during the December 29, 2009, Mayon eruption, lava flow reached beyond the 6-km permanent danger zone, a declared no man’s land.
Despite the lull in eruptions, the possibility of frequent hazardous eruptions remains and the possibility of raising to Alert Level 5 continues.
“We maintain our stand that the extended 8-km danger zone should be free from humans,” the Mayon resident volcanologist said.