There’s no stopping Mount Mayon.
Evacuation shelters are getting overcrowded quickly as 81,000 people evacuated areas around the volcano over the past week.
While Albay province is still at alert level 4, a notch below the highest level, lahar flows — or pyroclastic flows combined with water — were reported yesterday.
Lahar can destroy virtually any structure in its path.
“We’re gearing up for three months [of emergency],” said National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesperson Romina Marasigan told media over the weekend, citing similar situations during previous eruptions of the 2,462-meter volcano.
Displaced families may need to stay in evacuation centers for that long, she said.
Food and other supplies remain adequate but concerns are growing over health and hygiene conditions at all the 69 temporary shelters away from the danger zone.
Respiratory illnesses are possible because of the series of ash fall, she said.
“We remain on red alert,” Marasigan told a media briefing, adding that 69,672 evacuees were housed in schools while nearly 12,000 took shelter in tents or went to relatives in more secure locations.
Health workers are giving free check-ups and medicine to elderly women and children in evacuation centers, but there are not enough toilets.
“The province is doing everything to close the gaps for these toilet facilities,” said Nestor Santiago, assistant secretary at the health ministry.
The number of canceled flights has risen to 97, the disaster agency said.
Volcanologists said there were seven more episodes of intense but sporadic lava fountaining at the crater lasting several minutes during a 21-hour period from Thursday morning.
The lava fountains, shooting up between 150 meters and 500 meters, generated ash plumes that spurted as high as 3 kilometers above the crater, they said.
Photos and videos of the eruption show how terrifying but majestic the eruption looks at night.
Check them out below:
This couple took their engagement photos in front of the eruption.
This is how the eruption looks like from one of the nearby towns.
Local news site Rappler captured this video of lava flowing from Mayon’s crater
with a report from ABS-CBN News
