Around 13,000 people living near Mayon volcano have moved to evacuation centers as ash and toxic gases spewed from the rumbling crater, authorities said on Monday. Lava or red-hot rocks started falling from Mayon before 8 p.m. on Sunday and flowed down 500 to 1,000 meters from the summit, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. 

“Sa huling datos po natin, nakapagpa-evacuate na po tayo ng 3,761 families or umaabot po sa mahigit na 13,000 tao na nasa loob na po ng mga evacuation centers,” said Eugene Escobar, officer-in-charge of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office. 

(Based our latest data, we have evacuated some 3,761 families or around 13,000 people.)

Authorities have distributed food packs and other relief commodities to the evacuees, while policemen and soldiers are in the area to prevent residents from returning to the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone, he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo. 

Albay Governor Grex Lagman also said they hope to help evacuees with their livelihood and education while they remain away from their homes.

"The province is also planning to do more in terms of providing trainings, TESDA trainings for example for the evacuees," he said.

"We also plan to put up WiFi stations so that the education of students who are also evacuees would continue, and we also plan to purchase vegetables from farmer organizations and associations to also give the same to our evacuees. Para meron po silang ginagawa (so they are doing something), a certain degree of normalcy must be achieved," Lagman added.

A 5-step alert system for the volcano was raised to 3 from 2 last Thursday, with authorities warning of possible respiratory illnesses from inhaling fumes.

Alert 3 means the volcano "is currently in a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days," Phivolcs said. 

Authorities are looking at certain parameters before they could raise the alert status to 4, which would require the evacuation of more residents from an extended danger zone, Phivolcs director Dr. Teresito Bacolcol said. 

"Ang tinitingnan natin iyong hazardous eruption. This is effusive eruption... [it] involves slow release of magma," Bacolcol said. "We are assessing the situation on a day to day basis." 

(What we are looking out for is hazardous eruption. This is effusive eruption. It involves the slow release of magma.)

"Holistic yung pag-approach natin kasi mahirap namang magpa-evacuate tayo. It would take yung resources ng gobyerno at saka yung mga tao madi-displace, so we have to be very careful," he said in a separate TeleRadyo interview. 

(We are taking a holistic approach because evacuating people is difficult. It would take government resources and displace people, so we have to be very careful.)

Bacolcol said 21 volcanic earthquakes were recorded around the Mayon on Sunday. Sulfur dioxide emissions went down to 642 tons from the 1,205 tons recorded on Saturday, he added. 

"There is a concomitant health risk while being close to the eruption because of inhaling sulphur dioxide gas or the particulate matter of ashfalls," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa told a press briefing Sunday.

Mayon, about 330 kilometers southeast of the capital Manila, is considered one of the most volatile of the country's 24 active volcanoes.

"With Albay in a state of calamity due to Mayon's activity, we remind people to follow the recommendations and evacuation instructions of your local governments," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Saturday.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are common in the Philippines due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

Five years ago, Mayon displaced tens of thousands of people after spewing millions of tonnes of ash, rocks and lava.

The country's most powerful eruption in recent decades was Mount Pinatubo in 1991 that killed more than 800 people.

That disaster produced an ash cloud that travelled thousands of kilometers.

Full story here: https://tinylinkurl.com/evacuated-as-Mayon-spews-ash-rocks