Mount Mayon Erupts Beautifully But Violently, Spewing Lava, Smoke, And Ash

Warnings that Mount Mayon would soon erupt have caused over 50,000 Philippines residents living in the area to flee their homes.  Well, the volcano has erupted, complete with lava fountains and ash, and it’s eerily beautiful.

Mount Mayon has spewed lava up to 2,000ft high and its ash plumes stretched up to three miles above the crater.  Cedric Daep, a provincial disaster response official, told a news conference that he has recommended electricity and water supplies be cut in the no-go zones to discourage residents from returning. “If pyroclastic flows hit people, there is no chance for life, Daep said. “Let us not violate the natural law, avoid the prohibited zone, because if you violate, the punishment is the death penalty.”

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the volcano that’s been erupting for almost two weeks, at times very explosively, and still appears to be swelling with magma under the surface.

Mayon’s most destructive eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried the town of Cagsawa in volcanic mud. The Philippines, which has about 22 active volcanoes, lies in the “Ring of Fire,” a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

This is the third time since its eruption that Mayon has generated a lava fountain. Pyroclastic flows, superheated gas and volcanic debris that could incinerate anything in their path, reached 3 miles from the crater in one area, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. “It’s a logistical nightmare,” Office of Civil Defense regional director Claudio Yucot said of the government’s effort to look after the still-swelling number of evacuees in at least 66 emergency shelters in nine cities and towns in northeastern Albay province, where Mayon lies.

Based on its previous eruptions, Mayon’s restiveness could last from two to four months, prompting Albay and national authorities to take steps to ease the impact on schools, public health and safety, livelihood, and law and order, officials said.  Officials have already had problems keeping people from entering the restricted zones to check on livestock or the condition of their homes.

Should any of these trends continue, Mayon could severely impact not only the global climate but become deadly.

 

12,000 Flee As Philippines Volcano Crater Glows Red Hot

The Philippines’ most active volcano has awoken again. On Sunday, lava pooled to the surface of the volcano’s crater showing a glowing red hot core just below.

By Monday, the crater of a rumbling Philippine volcano was glowing bright red. Coupled with vulcanologists’ warnings it could erupt within days, the glowing crater caused thousands of residents to flee from their homes in search of safety. The volcano lies in the coconut-growing Albay province about 210 miles southeast of Manila.

More than 12,000 people have been ordered to leave a four mile (seven-kilometer) evacuation zone as scientists fear the eruption of the Mayon volcano, and there are warnings of destructive mudflows and toxic clouds. Volcanic earthquakes and rockfalls have also violently shaken the summit of Mayon over the last 24 hours, after a number of steam-driven eruptions, scientists said. Lava flowed just less than half a mile down a gulley from the crater and on Monday morning, ash clouds appeared mid-slope, said Renato Solidum, head of the volcano institute.

“It is dangerous for families to stay in that radius and inhale ash,” Claudio Yucot, head of the region’s office of civil defense, told AFP. “Because of continuous rains in past weeks, debris deposited in the slopes of Mayon could lead to lahar flows. If rain does not stop it could be hazardous.”

Three steam-explosions since Saturday have spewed ash into nearby villages and may have breached solidified lava at the crater and caused lava to start flowing, Solidum said. With its near-perfect cone, Mayon is popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently.

Experts are concerned about a major eruption which could trigger pyroclastic flows (superheated gas and volcanic debris that race down the slopes of volcanoes at high speeds) that would be capable of incinerating or vaporizing everything in their path. More extensive explosions of ash could drift toward nearby towns and cities, including Legazpi city, the provincial capital, about 9 miles away.