Residents flee as Philippines volcano threatens to erupt

Philippines authorities Tuesday started evacuating about 50,000 people living around the island nation's most active volcano after it oozed fiery lava and belched clouds of ash.

A large-scale eruption was forecast as imminent.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level up a notch on Monday night to level 3. Scientist Alex Baloloy told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that under level 3, "a full-blown eruption is expected to take place within weeks to days."

He said seismic instruments detected 83 volcanic quakes, a majority of which were tremors associated with rockfalls.

People in Albay province, about 466 kilometers (290 miles) south of the capital, Manila, flocked to town centers to catch a glimpse of glowing lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon. The volcanic mountain soars 2,464 meters (8,077 feet) into the sky and has erupted 49 times since the first documented eruption in 1616.

Mayon has had forty-nine eruptions in recorded history. The first recorded major eruption was in 1616, the last and weakest eruption ceased on October 1, 2006, [3] although a lahar followed on November 30, 2006. A further summit eruption occurred on August 10, 2008. [4]

Mayon Volcano on September 23, 1984

The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Lava flowed but not as much compared to the 1766 eruption. Instead, the volcano was belching dark ash and eventually bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa—only the bell tower of the town's church remained above the new surface. Trees were burned; rivers were certainly damaged. Proximate areas were also devastated by the eruption with ash accumulating to 9 m (30 ft) in depth. 2,200 Albay locals perished in what is considered to be the most lethal eruption in Mayon's histor

Mayon, the Philippines' most active volcano erupted earlier today. More than 20,000 nearby residents were evacuated from Mayon's immediate area and sent to temporary housing. Mayon has erupted more than fifty times during the last few hundred years, most recently in 2006.