Residents evacuated following new eruption from Philippines' Mayon volcano

T TV Tuesday 23/January/2018 13:16 PM
By: Times News Service

Residents were evacuated after a fresh eruption from the Mayon Volcano in Philippines. Authorities raised the alert level after Mayon erupted twice within four hours.
"This early morning around 2:25 am there was what is called a lava foundering event where in the volcano threw out some lava fragments, but this was just short-lived about less than a minute. And then again at 12:45 pm there was what we call a phreatomagmatic eruption wherein it produced an ash column about 10 kilometers high and it also produced what we call a pyroclastic flows around the volcano," said Paul Alanis, a science research specialist at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Mount Mayon in the Philippines was active again on Monday, erupting multiple times after a week of silence and leading authorities to raise the volcano's alert level from three to level four.
The level four alert suggests a "hazardous eruption is imminent." Therefore nearby residents were evacuated and the danger zone was further expanded. "Now what this means is an eruption is rather imminent within the next few hours or days. And it also means the danger zone around the volcano has now been increased from six kilometres. It's now eight kilometres," said Alanis.
Following alert level raises earlier in the day, Mayon volcano proceeded to erupt multiple times around 4 pm and after 9 pm. The eruptions in the evening shot lava hundreds of metres into the air and produced volcanic ash that measured 1,250 metres in length.
Flights in and out of Albay Province where the volcano is located were all cancelled. Elementary schools and middle schools in the province are suspended due to the eruptions.
The volcano became active on January 13 when the alert level was raised from level one to level three.