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.