MANILA, Philippines – As continuing activity eroded and disfigured the crater lip of Mt. Mayon – admired for its near-perfect cone – the local government of Albay province considered Wednesday the drastic resort to deliberately cutting the electricity and water service of settlements within the publicly declared nine-mile danger zone around the crater. This is meant to compel uncooperative folk to leave their villages for safer grounds, and stop going back, amid increasingly risky conditions aggravated by intensifying ash fall and the effusion of molten volcanic material down the flanks and lateral gullies of Mt. Mayon.
Mayon’s crater lip has been eroded and disfigured bit by bit by the incessant effusion and eruptive discharge of pyroclastic materials, ash and fine sediments during the past 10 days of continuing and escalating restlessness.
At least four significant eruptive episodes were recorded since Wednesday morning, sending boulders and lava down the slope.
According to Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the sporadic constant sputtering and fountaining of lava and other pyroclastic material tilting toward the southeastern lip of the crater is aggravating the deformation from the shape and structure.
With each eruptive episode, the volcano is observed to be spewing more and more ash, smoke and sediments, as though building up momentum toward a possibly major explosive event.
The heavy ash fall has been making things difficult for nearby towns such as Guinobatan and Camalig, which is well within the designated danger zone.
