LEGAZPI, Philippines—Monday, the most active volcano in the country was slowly spilling lava down its slopes, warning tens of thousands of people they could need to escape right away from a major explosion that might be fatal.
Since the spike in volcanic activity last week, more than 12,600 people have been forced to leave the primarily impoverished farming towns within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of the Mayon Volcano's crater. Although it has long been proclaimed off-limits to humans, many more people continue to live and cultivate in the perpetual danger zone below Mayon, where they have done so for decades because they have nowhere else to go.
The high-risk zone surrounding Mayon may extend if the eruption becomes intense, according to Teresito Bacolcol, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, after the volcano started spewing lava Sunday night. People in any increased risk zone should be ready to flee and seek refuge in emergency shelters, according to Bacolcol.
“What we are seeing now is an effusive eruption,” Bacolcol told The Associated Press. “We are looking at this on a day-to-day basis.”
Journalists from the Associated Press spent hours Sunday night seeing lava pour down the volcano's southeast valleys from a distance. In a beachside neighborhood of Legazpi, the provincial capital of northeastern Albay, people rapidly exited restaurants and clubs. Many of them were taking photographs of Mayon, a renowned tourist destination noted for its gorgeous conical form.
Under the case of a significant eruption, Albay was declared to be under a state of emergency on Friday to facilitate speedier disbursement of any disaster assistance funding.
On a scale of one to five, the volcano's alert level was upgraded to three on Thursday, signaling a high state of unrest and the potential for a dangerous eruption in the coming days or weeks.
Bacolcol stated that the alert level will remain at three but might be raised if the eruption became dangerous as lava flowed down the hill gradually.
The highest alarm level, level five, would indicate that a severe and life-threatening eruption is now ongoing, endangering other towns at Mayon's lush foothills with superheated pyroclastic streams and ash plumes flying into the sky.
There are 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines, including Mayon. When it last erupted forcefully in 2018, tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee. Mayon's eruption in 1814 reportedly killed over 1,000 people and buried entire communities.
However, a large portion of Albay's populace has come to terms with the volcano's intermittent wrath as a fact of life.
On a Legazpi beach promenade on Sunday morning, hordes of people biked, ran, and walked their pets. At a distance, the 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) volcano was obscured by dense clouds.
Some residents have prospered thanks to Mayon's tourism sector or the abundant gravel, sand, and decorative rocks and boulders that can be found all around the volcano.
Authorities and locals were relocating cows and water buffaloes from the high-risk farms to temporary grazing pastures a safe distance away on Sunday inside the permanent danger zone.
Manny Victorino, the provincial veterinarian of Albay, told the Associated Press that "farm animals should also be brought to safety." If the volcano erupts, he said that officials are taking precautions to prevent a more serious economic damage.
Numerous cows and buffaloes received vitamins and deworming medication in addition to having identification tags pierced into their ears for easier tracking.
The livestock evacuations serve as a stark reminder of the Philippines' vulnerability to natural calamities.
The archipelago is situated on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," the rim of seismic faults where the majority of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur, and is battered by roughly 20 typhoons and tropical storms annually.
In 1991, Mount Pinatubo, which is located north of Manila, erupted in one of the worst volcanic eruptions of the 20th century.
