PHIVOLCS: 126 quakes, 179 rockfall events recorded in Mayon Volcano

Mayon Volcano had registered 126 volcanic earthquakes and 179 rockfall events over the past 24 hours as it remained under Alert Level 3, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said Monday.

As of 5 a.m., PHIVOLCS’ bulletin showed that the volcanic earthquakes included 56 tremor events that lasted one to 45 minutes. Some of these tremors were accompanied by rumbling sounds audible within the seven-kilometer radius from the Mayon’s crater.

The Mayon Volcano Network also detected one pyroclastic density current and four lava front-collapses.

The slow effusion of lava from the volcano’s summit crater also continued, reaching 3.4 kilometers along the Bonga Gully (southeastern), 2.8 kilometers along Mi-isi Gully (south), and 1.1 kilometers along Basud Gully (eastern).

Collapses of the lava flow margins and of the summit dome likewise deposited debris still within four kilometers from the crater, PHIVOLCS said.

Mayon's sulfur dioxide emission also averaged 966 tonnes per day on Sunday, August 13. It also generated a moderate 1,500 meter-tall plume, drifting southeast, west, southwest, and west-southwest.

Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Mayon Volcano due to intensified unrest or magmatic unrest.

PHIVOLCS said that it is possible to have a “hazardous eruption within weeks or even days.”

Activities of Mayon Volcano have so far affected over 38,000 individuals or 9,000 families in 26 barangays in the Bicol Region, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Due to this, at least 18,000 displaced people or 5,000 families were transferred to 27 evacuation centers, while over 1,000 people or 400 families were staying in other places outside of evacuation centers. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News