MANILA — The Mayon volcano will remain under alert level 3 as its eruptions are expected “to take a few more weeks,” an official from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on Saturday.

Alert level 3 indicates that “magma is near or at the surface, and activity could lead to hazardous eruption in weeks,” according to Phivolcs' volcano monitoring system.

While fewer volcanic quakes and rock fall events have been monitored recently, the Mayon volcano is “still erupting,” said Phivolcs director Dr. Teresito Bacolcol.

“Patuloy pa rin yung kaniyang effusive eruption… Hopefully hindi na po magkakaroon ng explosive eruption,” he said.

• Mayon shows 'no indication' for lower alert level as quiet eruption continues: Phivolcs
• Mayon spews hot volcanic particles, ash fall reaches Tabaco City: Phivolcs

An effusive eruption is “dominated by the outpouring, fountaining or ejection of fluid lava,” according to Phivolcs.

On the other hand, an explosive eruption refers to “an energetic eruption that is driven mainly by the fragmentation of magma into ash, pumice or scoria and fragmental ballistic.”

While effusive eruptions are gentler, “the downside is it would take a few more weeks,” Bacolcol said, noting that the same kind of eruption that happened in 2014 lasted 3 months before it subsided.

• Erupting Mayon continues to ooze lava; Alert 3 remains

Since Mayon began spewing debris June, it has released around 18 million cubic meters of volcanic materials, which could fill 1.4 million dump trucks, he said.

Residents in near Mayon, especially those living within the volcano’s 6-kilometer radius danger zone, are advised to continue staying in evacuation centers or other areas away from the rumbling volcano, he said.

“Yung mga nasa evacuation centers… sana matulungan sila na pag nababa na yung alert level, they should move out and stay outside the permanent danger zone,” he said.

So far, around 10,000 individuals are still staying in different evacuation centers due to the Mayon’s unrest, he added.

• Albay seeking help from national gov't as Mayon fund runs out

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC