Stricter ban on in Mayon’s danger zone raised anew

By Cet Dematera

LEGAZPI CITY---The Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo) would impose again a stricter prohibition in entering Mayon Volcano’s six-kilometer radius permanent danger zone (PDZ) after state volcanologists placed it again under alert level 1, or in abnormal condition.

APSEMO Chief Cedric Daep said that barangay checkpoints in the entry points to the 6-PDZ would be set up again to make sure that no one is conducting any activity in the danger-prone areas while Mayon is in restive condition.

“We will be strictly enforcing again entry inside the danger zone because Mayon could erupt anytime. We are not even sure if this alert level 1 would still be elevated to a higher alert level should the volcano’s condition worsen further,” Daep said.

He added that quarry activities would also be strictly monitored especially since some operators have already resumed their operations after all quarrying activities around Mayon were suspended last July 1.

“No quarry operations will be allowed inside the danger zone now that Mayon’s condition is declared abnormal again,” Daep said.

Paul Alanis, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) at the Lignon Hill Observatory in Legazpi City, said that they already informed the local officials of cities and towns surrounding Mayon to strictly enforce ban of entry inside its permanent danger zone.

“We coordinated with them because they are the ones that have the personnel to impose the entry ban inside the danger zones of Mayon in their respective jurisdictions,” Alanis said.

Mayon which stands 8,00 feet tall is surrounded by Legazpi City, Daraga, Sto. Domingo, Malilipot, Tabaco City, Ligao City, Guinobatan and Camalig towns.

Alanis said they are again closely watching the abnormal parameters of Mayon, particularly its volcanic earthquakes, sulfur dioxide emissions, crater glow, plume, and surface inflation.

Phivolcs raised Mayon’s alert level to 1 on Sunday after it observed slight extrusion of the summit dome towards the crater by approximately 40,000 cubic meters between June 6 and June 20 this year.

Phivolcs also reported that “short-lived spikes in the number of low-frequency volcanic earthquakes were recorded on May 26 and June 20, 2022, but for most of this year, only baseline seismic activity has been detected.”

Until yesterday, no volcanic quake had been detected over Mayon, while SO2 was recorded at an average of 600 tons a day since August 12.