MANILA, Jan 8 — The authorities have evacuated nearly 1,000 families from villages around the erupting Mayon in Albay province on Luzon island, the Philippines, as the famed volcano continued to ooze lava.
Xinhua reported that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (NDRRMO) said 963 families, or 3,516 people, from 13 villages at the volcano's foot are currently staying in government-run evacuation centres across the province today.
Initial reports placed the total number of evacuees at nearly 1,000 families, or about 3,555 people. On Tuesday (January 6), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Mayon's alert to Level Three after observing the "onset of dome collapse pyroclastic density current".
Under Alert Level Three, Mayon is considered to be undergoing a magmatic eruption of its summit lava dome, with an increased likelihood of lava flows and hazardous pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) that could impact the upper to middle slopes of the volcano.
Phivolcs warned that explosive activity could occur within days or weeks.
Mayon, famed for its near-perfect conical shape, is one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes and has a long history of explosive eruptions that have triggered mass evacuations.
