MANILA – Officials on Thursday issued an ultimatum for the mandatory evacuation of residents living near Mount Mayon as government experts raised the possibility of raising the alert level due to the volcano’s increasing restiveness which could be a prelude to another major eruption.
Governor Joey Salceda of Albay province issued the ultimatum following reports that many residents living within the six-to-eight-kilometer “expanded danger zone†refused to leave their homes despite an order for them to evacuate.
Officials complained that at least 10 percent of the 10,000 families targeted for evacuation remained deaf to the appeals of their village elders, claiming that robbers and looters would take advantage of the situation of they leave their homes.
But Salceda was equally adamant as he ordered Albay disaster control officials to adopt a “zero tolerance†policy and ensure that all the affected residents are brought to the estimated 23 evacuation centers in Albay “within the day.â€
He pointed out the order aims to ensure the safety of the residents and achieve their objective of a “zero casualty†in case Mount Mayon, considered by experts as the country’s most active and violent volcano, erupts.
Salceda’s order took on a more urgent tone as government volcanologists raised the possibility of raising Mayon’s alert level from 3 to 4 as the volcano continued to rumble and spew out ash as well as the toxic sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
Renato Solidum, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned that due to its increasing restiveness, Mayon volcano could erupt anytime.
Solidum explained that alert level 4 is characterized by an “imminent hazardous eruption,†marked by intensifying unrest, including persistent volcanic earthquakes, intense crater glow and presence of incandescent lava fragments at the summit of the volcano.
He also reported that for the past 24 hours ending at 8 am Thursday, volcanologists noted at least eight ash explosions and sulfur dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Since Monday, he said sulfur emissions have averaged more than 2,000 tons a day.
In addition, he said, they noted lave flows from the crater have reached eight kilometers down Mayon’s slopes.
Based on these observations, Solidum warned of an impending eruption of Mayon which could be more destructive and dangerous than what had happened in its last eruption in 2006.
So far, officials of Albay’s Office of Civil Defense reported that a total of close 7,000 families comprising over 32,000 individuals have responded to their call for a preemptive evacuation in a determined effort to bring them out of harm’s way.
Most of the evacuees, officials said, came from the cities of Legaspi and Tabaco as well as the towns of Guinobatan, Camalig and Malilipot where most of their “barangay†(villages) are located within the expanded danger zone of from six to eight kilometers.
But despite assurances from officials, many of the residents refused to leave for fear that their homes would be looted and their work animals stolen by criminal elements.
Live reports from Albay, which were carried by Metro Manila-based radio and TV networks, noted that residents were seen tending to their farms or drying their newly-harvested palay (unhusked rice).
The residents interviewed also claimed that because of their long experience with the “moods†of Mayon, they would know when to leave or when to stay.
The reports also said that the military and the police have established checkpoints to prevent the entry of people, particularly to the so-called permanent danger zone around the volcano.
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