(UPDATE2 – 9:20 a.m. Monday, January 15, 2018) The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) at 8 p.m. Sunday raised the Alert Level for Mayon Volcano to “3”.
Alert Level 3 is described as denoting “increased tendency toward eruption”.
The volcano, located in Albay Province, has been consistently “relatively high unrest and magma at the crater. A hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days,” Phivolcs said in its bulletin.
Phivolcs recommends that the 6-kilometer radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) and a 7-km Extended Danger Zone be enforced due to the danger of rockfalls, landslides and other sudden explosion or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows, lahars as well as “sediment-laden streamflows along channels draining the edifice.”
Civil aviation authorities are to advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit, as ash from sudden eruption can be dangerous to aircraft.
Based on seasonal wind pattern, PHIVOLCS indicated that ashfall may occur down the southwest flank of the volcano.
