Screen grab from Phivolcs camera footage
MANILA — Mayon Volcano in Albay is ripe for another eruption, Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol warned on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Mayon was placed on Alert Level 3, signaling that it is now on an increased tendency toward a hazardous eruption.
The raising of its status came just days after Phivolcs placed it under Alert Level 2 because of increasing unrest.
Speaking on ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, Bacolcol said Mayon’s eruption interval is usually 3 to 10 years.
The volcano last erupted 5 years ago.
“The soonest it would erupt would be [in] 3 years,” Bacolcol said.
2 SCENARIOS
Bacolcol said that the agency was looking into 2 possible eruptions for Mayon: one like in 2014 when the volcano exhibited lava flow then stopped, and another in 2018 when “it proceeded to a magmatic eruption.”
Mayon’s eruption this time, the Phivoilcs chief said, is shaping up to be similar to the 2018 event.
“Kaso ito mukhang it following the 2018 eruption,” he said.
Bacolcol nonetheless hopes that the Mayon’s imminent eruption will change course.
“‘Yung 2014 kasi nag-rockfall and then nagkaroon ng lava flow, nag-stop afterwards. Sana ganito ‘yung mangyari this time kasi kawawa naman ‘yung mga kababayan natin. We’re hoping na ito nga ‘yung 2014 event,” he said.
When Alert Level 3 was raised over Mayon, Phivolcs said the volcano was already in an “effusive magmatic eruption.”
According to state volcanologists, this type of eruption is “dominated by the outpouring of lava onto the ground.”