Phivolcs monitors magma flow in Mt. Bulusan

State volcanologists on Monday conducted precise leveling at Mount Bulusan to determine the deformation of the ground and the possibility of a major eruption. Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) set up its instruments to determine the movement of magma inside the volcano, GMA 7's DZBB reported. Magma intrusion can be confirmed through ground movement and ground deformations. No activity was recorded in Mount Bulusan for the past five days. However, boulders and heaps of mud came down from the volcano over the weekend as rains spawned by Tropical Storm Domeng loosened the soil. Mount Bulusan first spewed ash on March 21 and has since exhibited a total of nine episodes of ash explosions with the last one occurring on June 20. Phivolcs expects more ash explosions considering Bulusan's eruption pattern. Alert Level 2 is still raised over the volcano area. Local officials in Sorsogon province are now preparing for the permanent evacuation of affected residents once Phivolcs expands the four-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone. The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said it will send a technical team to Bicol on Tuesday to finalize contingency plans for residents affected by Mt. Bulusan. Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional director for Bicol Arnel Capili admitted Monday that they have yet to finalize an evacuation plan meant to address the needs of thousands of evacuees once Mt. Bulusan explodes. He said there were still kinks in the plan meant to address the needs of about up to 70,000 evacuees. "Our plans are not yet ironed out. We are talking about evacuating between 60,000 to 70,000 residents once we extend the danger zone to 7 to 8 kilometers," Capili said in Filipino. Such a scenario would mean handling about 35 times the number of present evacuees that local authorities are presently attending to in evacuation centers. Some 2,000 residents of Juban, Casiguran and Irosin towns living inside the four-kilometer permanent danger zone are presently house in evacuation centers, Capili said. However, once Bulusan explodes, he said the first major problem is where to bring the evacuees, saying a large-scale evacuation would probably cause confusion if it is not planned well ahead of time.-GMANews.TV