Coconut farmers told to leave plantations near Mayon

Fearing a pyroclastic explosion, local authorities have declared coconut plantations at the fringes of the six-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) of restive Mayon Volcano off limits to residents. Cedric Daep, head of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), said Tuesday that officials should also be ready to conduct a mandatory evacuation of residents once the alert level is raised from 3 to 4. "We looked at the conditions at the lava front. What is happening is that this is the perimeter of the six-kilometer PDZ and should be off-limits not because of the lava but because of the possible pyroclastic flow," Daep said in an interview on DZBB radio. Farmers in the villages of Mabinit and Bogña voiced fears that the lava will devour the coconut plantations that have been their main source of income for years. "There are many families that will be affected. We have to meet with disaster management officials to determine if it is time to evacuate the families in the villages," DZBB radio quoted Legaspi City Mayor Noel Rosal as saying. Citing raw information reaching him, Rosal said the lava from Mayon Volcano has come "very close" to the plantations in the two villages. He said that should the alert level be raised to 4, the off-limits area will be set at six kilometers and families living eight kilometers from the area will be subject to mandatory evacuation. Rosal was scheduled to meet Tuesday with PDCC and Phivolcs officials. Phivolcs said lava from Mayon has already extended 5.7 kilometers from the crater, and continues to advance at the rate of four meters a day. Earlier, Phivolcs said it is seriously considering extending the permanent danger zone at the southeast portion of Mayon from six kilometers to eight. It estimated that Mayon has recently spewed an average of one million cubic meters of lava a day.-GMANews.TV