Philippines Volcano

A series of mild eruptions at the most active volcano in the Philippines has prompted the evacuation of nearly 3,000 villagers in a permanent danger zone on its foothills, officials said Wednesday. Authorities raised the 5-step alert around Mayon Volcano in the northeastern province of Albay to level 3 on Tuesday after detecting intermittent rockfalls, some as big as cars, from its peak crater in recent days along with deadly pyroclastic flows a fast-moving avalanche of super-hot rock fragments, ash and gas. Alert level 5 would indicate a major explosive eruption, often with violent ejections of ash and debris and widespread ashfall, is underway. This is already an eruption, a quiet one, with lava accumulating up the peak and swelling the dome, which cracked in some parts and resulted in rockfalls, some as big as cars, Teresito Bacolcol, the country's chief volcanologist, told The Associated Press. He said it is too early to tell if Mayon's restiveness would worsen and lead to a .

A plume of hot ash and gases up to three kilometres high forced residents to seek shelter after a volcano in the Philippines erupted on Monday. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the latest explosion of Mount Kanlaon, on central Negros island, but authorities shut schools and imposed a nighttime curfew after several villages were hit by ashfalls that clouded the the visibility of motorists and sparked health concerns. It sounded like a cannon, Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas of Canlaon city, which lies southeast of the volcano, told The Associated Press by telephone. There have been quiet eruptions before, but this was one very loud. Disaster-response officials raised the danger level around Kanlaon due to a greater risk of hazardous volcanic activity and ordered villagers within a six-kilometre radius of the crater to be evacuated. About 100 people had fled to emergency shelters in Canlaon by nightfall after the mid-afternoon volcanic eruption, Cardenas said. The number

The 2,460-metre, cone-shaped Mayon volcano began erupting on June 8, while its alert level was raised to 3 on a scale of 5

Lava poured from the crater of the Philippines' most active volcano Monday, prompting officials to warn tens of thousands of villagers to be prepared to flee if the gentle eruption turns into a violent and life-threatening explosion. More than 13,000 people have left the mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometre radius of Mayon volcano's crater in mandatory evacuations since volcanic activity increased last week. But an unspecified number of residents remain within the permanent danger zone below Mayon, an area long declared off-limits to people but where generations have lived and farmed because they have nowhere else to go. With the volcano beginning to expel lava Sunday night, the high-risk zone around Mayon may be expanded should the eruption turn violent, said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Bacolcol said if that happens, people in any expanded danger zone should be prepared to evacuate to emergency shelters. "Wh

Authorities in the Philippines have warned that the Taal volcano, south of Manila, could erupt "anytime soon" after recording the highest levels of sulfur dioxide gas emission.

The volcano shot ash 15 kilometres high in the January 12 eruption, which crushed scores of homes and killed livestock as well as crops.

More than 16,000 people were evacuated from the volcanic island and the area immediately around it - normally a popular tourist spot. Dozens of tremors set residents on edge

Overcrowding is leading to worsening the sanitation crisis

Volcano Mayon expelling rivers of lava along with a column of gas and ash 3-km high; it has erupted 5 times in past 3 decades

The Philippines is part of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' of islands that were formed by volcanic activity, and is perennially under threat from 22 active volcanoes