42,000 evacuated as RP volcano erupts

42,000 evacuated as RP volcano erupts

LEGASPI, Philippines (AFP): The erupting Mayon volcano subsided on Friday but the number of people evacuated soared to more than 42,000 as scientists warned it may burst into life again anytime.

The country's most active volcano, with a near-perfect cone, Thursday blotted out the sun spewing superheated ash and flaming boulders over surrounding towns.

No deaths or injuries have so far been reported. But the department of social welfare said 42,385 people have been evacuated from eight towns at the base of the volcano in Albay province, about 350 kilometers east of Manila.

Disaster authorities said the drastic rise in the number of evacuees has put a strain on already cramped evacuation centers and food supplies. School officials were asked to suspend classes even in areas not directly affected by the eruption to allow classrooms to be used to shelter the evacuees, many of them children.

One school building in Binitayan village housed 1,888 people, with as many as 15 families, or about 70 people, cramped in one classroom. Many brought their own food but this was already running out.

Dinos Madrona, a midwife, said the center only has three sacks of rice and a few cans of sardines.

As two men dug a hole in the backyard to be used as a toilet, women appealed for food as well as mats and cardboard cartons so they would not have to sleep on the concrete floor.

But Rosalyn Madrona, 33, who was staying in the center with her four children, said her husband returned to their home within the danger zone to tend to their animals and paddy field.

Like many other husbands, he may sleep there overnight despite the dangers, Madrona said.

President Joseph Estrada visited the province on Friday. He toured an evacuation center and approved the release of a 20- million-peso (about US$500,000) calamity fund.

Although the 2,462-meter volcano was quiet and hiding under dirty white cloud cover on Friday, "it does not mean that the worst is over," Ted Sandoval, a government seismologist here, told AFP.

"As of now, it's very early to say that it will subside at its present state."

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, who flew to the Albay capital of Legaspi on Thursday, attempted to downplay the eruption.

"This is turning into a tourist attraction," he said as visitors armed with cameras and video recorders flocked to Albay.

In Lumacao village, about 10 kilometers from Mayon, residents on Friday swept up volcanic ash covering their roofs and yards. Rice paddies ready for harvest at the base of the volcano were also covered with a grey mantle of ash, which spewed from the volcano on Thursday.

Sandoval said the five-step volcanic alert system remained at the highest level, which means a "hazardous eruption is in progress". However, many residents were defying warnings not to return home until the alert status was lowered.

Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, described the volcano as just "resting for a while."

Ed Laguerta, a senior seismologist here, warned: "We cannot suggest that it is finished. There is still lava flowing down. It can still have an explosion anytime."

Sandoval said Thursday's series of explosions depleted the magma which had built up inside the crater but volcanic activity could resume "within days or weeks" if another large build-up occurs.

"If we see that within two months there have been no more eruptions then we can say ... it has subsided and it may take years again for the volcano to have more activity."

Sandoval cited Mayon's 1993 eruption which lasted for two months and claimed 78 lives. An eruption in 1984 lasted a month.

Mayon has erupted 47 times since 1616. Its deadliest eruption was in 1814 when it buried an entire town, killing more than 1,200 people.