PHIVOLCS: Four volcanoes under close watch for 'abnormal activity'

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said it was monitoring four volcanoes considered to be at "abnormal level.”

At a Senate hearing, PHIVOLCS Officer-in-Charge Renato Solidum said that these were the Taal Volcano in Batangas, the Mayon Volcano in Albay, the Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon, and the Kanlaon Volcano in Negros Island.

“At alert level 1, all the aforementioned volcanoes earlier can actually have a steam-driven explosion,” Solidum said.

“Meaning po, ‘yung mga maiinit na magma can actually boil up the water and cause the explosion. And then people then should not go inside their danger zones. Kasama po sa Taal Volcano Island ang bawal,” he added.

The Taal Volcano spewed ash in a phreatic eruption in early January due to hydro-thermal activities.

The volcano remained on Alert Level 3 until the middle of February.

According to Solidum, PHIVOLCS observed a “slight change” in the Taal volcano after noting a decrease in its activity from January to March.

“But as of past several weeks, this decline has not continued. We began to see some slight change in its trend from pagbaba po, paghupa po nung pamamamaga because of pressure and nakita na namin na namamaga ulit. So we have to continuously monitor it,” Solidum said.

Meanwhile, the Mayon Volcano showed that it is “slighly again inflating from its base.”

In July, PHIVOLCS said that a slight inflammation at the summit of the Mayon Volcano was observed and that it continued to emit white steam, indicating magmatic activity underneath.

In late June, the agency also reported that hydrothermal or magmatic activity is occurring beneath the Kanlaon Volcano edifice.

Meanwhile, the 2021 budget of PHIVOLCS was slashed by P133 million earmarked for purchase of equipment and establishment of monitoring stations all over the country. -NB, GMA News