Thousands flee as Philippine volcano spews lava

(AFP) Google News 15 Dec 09;

LEGASPI, Philippines — Tens of thousands of villagers in the Philippines fled their homes on Tuesday as one of the nation's most active volcanoes spewed lava and sent ash plumes high into the sky, authorities said.

Soldiers and police marshalled the evacuation from the so-called "danger zone" around the foothills of Mayon volcano, amid concerns a big eruption could occur at any moment.

"After the series of ash puffs and ash explosions of 1,000 metres (high), we cannot rule out a major explosion," Cedric Daep, the head of the disaster relief operations in the region, told reporters.

Daep said the authorities aimed to evacuate nearly 50,000 people from villages within eight kilometres (five miles) of the volcano by Thursday.

Albay provincial governor Joey Salceda said that nearly 21,000 people had been evacuated by nightfall on Tuesday.

"Zero casualties is still the goal of our province," he told the ABS-CBN network, explaining the huge evacuation well before any eruption.

Some of the residents of the farming villages were carried out on military trucks, while others walked out carrying boxes of belongings on their heads.

Salceda said he wanted a "state of imminent disaster" to be declared over the province so special disaster funds could be released to help pay for the evacuation.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level for Mayon to three on Monday after lava was seen spewing from the crater, and evacuations began immediately.

Level three means an eruption is likely in the very near future. The scale runs from one to five, with five meaning an eruption is occurring.

However the volcanology institute also said Mayon could yet calm down without an eruption.

Mayon, which sits above a farming area about 330 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Manila, has erupted 48 times since records began, claiming thousands of lives.

After the most recent eruption in August 2006, huge deposits of volcanic ash were left on its slopes. When typhoon Durian hit the same area in December of that year, it caused a landslide of volcanic ash that killed over 1,000 people.

In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as the lava buried the town of Cagsawa.

However the 2,460-metre (8,070-feet) volcano remains a popular tourist attraction, and is famous for its perfect cone.

The Philippines is part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire" that is known for its volcanic activity. The Philippine volcanology institute lists 22 active volcanoes in the country.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo north of Manila in June 1991 was the world's most violent volcanic eruption of the last century, spewing out ash that spread around the globe and caused volcanic mudflows that buried whole towns.

Over 800 died as a result of that eruption.

20,000 evacuated as Philippine volcano oozes lava
Jim Gomez Associated Press Google News 15 Dec 09;

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities moved thousands of villagers from harm's way near the Philippines' most active volcano Tuesday after it oozed lava and shot plumes of ash, and said they probably would spend a bleak Christmas in an evacuation center.

State volcanologists raised the alert level on the cone-shaped, 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) Mayon volcano overnight to two steps below a major eruption after ash explosions and dark orange lava fragments glowing in the dark trickled down the mountain slope.

Nearly 50,000 people live in a five-mile (eight-kilometer) radius around the mountain, and authorities began moving thousands of them in case it erupts, Albay provincial Gov. Joey Salceda said.

More than 20,000 people were evacuated to safety by nightfall Tuesday, Salceda said, adding he has placed central Albay province, where Mayon is located, under a "state of imminent disaster," which will make it easier for him to draw and use emergency funds.

"Whatever the volcano does, our target is zero casualty," Salceda told The Associated Press.

Albay province lies about 210 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

Salceda said he had decided to cancel a trip to Copenhagen, where he was to attend the U.N. climate conference to discuss his province's experience with typhoons and other natural disasters.

He said he would appeal for foreign aid to deal with the expected influx of displaced villagers to emergency shelters.

The first of 20 vehicles, including army trucks, were sent to villages to take residents to schools and other temporary housing, provincial emergency management official Jukes Nunez said.

"It's 10 days before Christmas. Most likely people will be in evacuation centers, and if Mayon's activity won't ease down we will not allow them to return to their homes," Nunez said. "It's difficult and sad, especially for children."

Although the alarm has been sounded, life throbbed normally in many laid-back farming villages near the restive volcano. Throngs of farmers flocked to the town hall in Guinobatan, which lies near the danger zone, for a Christmas party, then headed home bearing gifts.

Village leader Romeo Opiana said the 249 residents in his farming community of Maninila, near the volcano, readied packs of clothes but no one had left. An army truck was parked nearby, ready to haul people if the threat grows.

"We're ready, but we're not really alarmed," said Opiana, 66. He could not remember how many times he had seen Mayon's eruptions since childhood.

Magma had been rising at the volcano over the past two weeks and began to ooze out of its crater Monday night, but it could get worse in coming days, said Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

"It's already erupting," Solidum told the AP. He said the volcano had so far only gently coughed out red-hot lava, which had flowed half a mile (half a kilometer) down from the crater.

Some classes were suspended indefinitely near the danger zone. Officials will find a way to squeeze in classes in school buildings to be used as shelters, Salceda said.

Residents in Albay are used to moving away from Mayon, which spewed ash last month and prompted the evacuation of some villages.

About 30,000 people were moved when it last erupted in 2006. Typhoon-triggered mudslides near the mountain later that year buried entire villages, killing more than 1,000 people.

Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.

The Philippines lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. About 22 out of 37 volcanos in the archipelago are active.

Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.