Mayon Volcano placed under Alert Level 2

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) on Friday raised the alert status of Mayon Volcano due to an increasing level of unrest.

In an advisory, PHIVOLCS said it placed the volcano in Albay province under Alert Level 2 due to its “current unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes that could eventually lead to phreatic eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption.”

The volcano was placed under Alert Level 1 in August after it exhibited “low-level unrest.”

“Ocular inspection of the summit during an aerial survey this morning confirmed the presence of freshly extruded lava at the base of the summit lava dome,” PHIVOLCS said.

“The event was signaled only by observations of thin remobilized light-colored ash, likely derived from lava fragmentation during the extrusion process, on the floor of the Miisi Gully since October 2, 2002,” it added. 

PHIVOLCS also said Mayon “has been slightly inflated, especially in the northwest and southeast, since 2020.”

Under Alert Level 2, the public is advised against entering the volcano’s six-kilometer-radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) to minimize the risks from sudden explosions, rockfall and landslides. 

Civil aviation authorities must also inform pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ash from any sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft. — VBL, GMA News