Mayon Volcano Alert Status Upgraded To Level 3

Mayon Volcano's alert status has been raised to Level 3 by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Monday night, September 15, 2014.

According to Phivolcs, Alert Level 3 means Mayon Volcano is exhibiting relatively high unrest and that magma is at the crater and that hazardous eruption is possible within weeks.

Phivolcs says that a noticeable escalation of unrest was recorded by the Mayon Volcano monitoring network from 5:00 AM to 8:00 PM on Monday, with 39 rockfall events that are ascribed to incipient breaching of the growing summit lava dome across the southeastern crater rim, and 32 low frequency volcanic earthquakes that indicate magma intrusion and/or volcanic gas activity, have been detected.

Crater glow has also become observable, indicating incandescence of the crater from molten lava and hot volcanic gas, it adds.

The government agency, therefore, recommends that the 6-km radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) around the volcano and the 7-km Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) on the southeastern flank be enforced due to the danger of rockfalls, landslides and sudden explosions or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows.

Located in Albay, Mayon Volcano is the most active volcano in the Philippines. It has erupted more 48 times in the past 4 centuries.