LEGAZPI CITY— Roaring thunder-like sounds roused residents here at dawn Sunday as Mount Mayon puffed out more ashes that reached more than one kilometer high, while lava and hot boulders cascaded and breached a portion of the six-to-eight kilometer danger zone, burning thick vegetation at the foot of the volcano.

“Makusugon, gari dalugdog. Kan magluwas ako sa harong, nahiling ko dakulunon na lava nabulos pababa (It’s loud, like thunder. When I went out of the house, I saw lava flowing down the slopes,”) said Isidro Santander, Jr. a councilman of Barangay Padang in Legazpi City which is located near the six-to-eight kilometer danger zone.

“Pero ordinaryo na ito samo (but we’re already used to it),” said Santander, adding that they are more afraid of mudflow which killed at least 1,000 people during the 2006 onslaught of typhoon Reming.

Director Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said the booming and rumbling sounds were heard between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday, with the sounds reaching their observatory compound in Lignon Hill located near downtown Legazpi City.

At least eight fountaining of lava were also monitored during the twohour period, some of them reaching more than one kilometer from the Mayon summit, said Solidum.

“It is still not ground to declare alert Level 5; they are not part of the hazardous eruptions that we are anticipating,” said Solidum.

Resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta shared the same analysis, saying what were exhibited since dawn Sunday were minimal compared to the major eruptions of Mayon Volcano in the past.
Aside from the lava fountaining, Laguerta said huge volume of ashes that were either vented out of the crater or created with the cascading pyroclastic materials were dumped anew in some barangays of Camalig and Daraga towns.

“The explosions produced dirty white to brownish ash columns with lava fragments,” said Laguerta.

The ashes turned into a grayish cloud-like formation as they were gradually blown by the wind towards the two towns, blanketing trees and grass at the foot of the volcano.

Laguerta said the explosions also resulted in the collapse of some lava fragments deposited near the summit. The detached fragments that turned into hot boulders breached the six-to-eight danger zone in Barangay Buyuan in Legazpi City.

“They’re hot, that’s the reason why they burned everything in their paths,” said Solidum during his ocular inspection Sunday morning near the site where trees were burned.

The abnormalities of Mount Mayon are definitely far from over as electronic tilt meter measurements of the northwest slope of the volcano indicate that the edifice remained inflated despite high volumes of lava that had oozed out since December 14.

“The edifice should have been deflated by now because large volumes of lava were already extracted. But this is not the case now; it remained inflated and that means there are continuous replenishment of magma,” said Laguerta.

Laguerta revealed that as lava continuously flowed since December 14, it flattened some of the gullies that were the usual routes of lava and pyroclastic materials.

As a result, the official explained that future lava and pyroclastic materials flow would already be scattered everywhere.

“This is the main reason why the heightened alert should remain; there are some events occurring that makes the volcano more dangerous,” said Laguerta.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda said the developments are part of the surprises that Mount Mayon usually shows in times of eruptions.

“We thought we have seen enough but we were wrong; Mayon is indeed full of surprises,” said Salceda. (With a report from Jenny Manongdo)