Mayon Calms Down, Evacuees Went Home
After several weeks of staying in evacuation centers, residents living in the danger zone surrounding the Mt. Mayon are allowed to go back on their homes. The provincial government of Albay ordered the decampment of more than 7,000 families from at least 20 evacuation centers after government, on Saturday morning (January 2) as volcanologists lowered the alert level around Mayon Volcano from alert level 4 down to alert level 3.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said a total of 7,218 families will be brought back by military and police personnel to their homes inside the 7-kilometer to 8-kilometer extended danger zones of the volcano. While the remaining 2,728 families, whose homes are inside the 4-kilometer to 6-kilometer permanent danger zones, will have to remain in evacuation centers pending the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) decision to further lower the alert level.
Phivolcs cited 3 reasons for the lowering of the alert level:
- No ash ejections were observed since 29 December. Steam emission was most of the time weak and white in color indicating considerable decrease in energy and absence of ash.
- Majority of the type of earthquakes that were recorded during the past days were associated with rockfalls and rolling down of fragments from the lava deposits along Bonga gully and the advancing lava front.
- Measured SO2 levels have also showed a decreasing trend from a maximum of 8,993 tons per day to 2,621 tons per day. The still high concentration of SO2 gas emission suggests that there is residual magma degassing at shallow depth.
The Phivolcs said that despite the sudden lull of the volcano, it would still continue producing earthquakes and belch large amount of gases because the whole length of the volcanic pipe and the volcano’s summit remains filled with fresh magma.
