Albay extends danger zone to seven kilometers
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) of Albay issued an advisory placing all the population within the seven kilometers extended danger zone under "preparedness status".
The advisory, signed by Provincial DRRMC chairman and Albay Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman on Monday called the residents to prepare for evacuation.
This means "evacuation will be executed anytime and should bring with them necessities in the evacuation center."
The advisory also noted that the cities, municipalities and barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council "must remain in constant readiness to implement evacuation anytime."
In a television interview on Monday morning, Lagman confirmed reports of possibly raising the alert level of Mayon Volcano to four within the day.
"We got reports from Phivolcs (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) that within the day it's possible that we will be raising the alert level from 3 to 4 because of the new lava dome spotted at the crater of Mayon," he said.
Lagman said there are 3,761 families or 13,348 persons who were evacuated in different evacuation sites in the province.
Phivolcs said Monday lava flow from the summit crater of Mayon Volcano started.
''Mayon Volcano had an effusive eruption at last night, 7:47 pm. If you say effusive eruption it involves relatively slow release of magma on to the volcano's edifice,'' Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol told CNN Philippines Monday.
''It (lava flow) reached 500 meters from the summit,'' he added.
''Probably, we will raise it to Alert Level 4 but today we are monitoring,'' added Bacolcol. ''We have to look, assess the situation daily, assess the parameters.''
Phivolcs said there were 21 volcanic earthquakes, which Bacolcol described as weak, 260 rockfalls and three pyroclastic density current.
Bacolcol said less sulfur dioxide were emitted.
''If there is no sulfur dioxide emission, it means the sulfur dioxide is trapped inside the lava dome. If there is a sudden release of sulfur, there could be an explosive eruption,'' said Bacolcol. Robina Asido/DMS
