Families flee Philippines volcano risk

Thousands of families in the Philippines have been evacuated after scientists warned a major eruption of a volatile volcano could be just weeks away.More than 30,000 people who live 8km from the danger zone, near Mount Mayon been moved to temporary shelters. Authorities ordered the evacuation on Monday after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised its alert to level three.

A level four alert would mean that the volcano could erupt within days, and a level five alert would mean it was already erupting.The 2,462-metre volcano, on the main island of Luzon, is the most active in the Philippines, having erupted more than 40 times since records started 400 years ago.  Army lorries were brought in to help evacuate people. Those who have been moved are now sheltering in schools and other buildings outside the danger zone. They are being given food and water. The authorities said their aim was to avoid any deaths at all during Mayon’s current bout of activity. Their evacuation plan has been well rehearsed. The last time the volcano erupted, in 2006, about 30,000 people were moved to safety, and no one died.Government volcanologist Renato Solidum said lava flows and at least five small ash explosions had been seen recently. Five new ash explosions, one of them reaching 550 yards (500m) in the air, had shaken the slopes of the volcano, he said.

Yesterday two lava domes had formed at the crater, another volcanologist, July Sabit noticed looking at it from the air. "This indicates pressure is building up from the inside, and the rising magma had accumulated at the mouth," he told the French news agency AFP.But scientists had not seen "intensified lava fountainings, or big earthquakes", which are often taken as signs there could be a sudden massive explosion, he said. About 30,000 of the 50,000 people living in the vicinity of Mahon have now been evacuated and officials say they might have to spend up to four months in temporary shelters.More than 7,000 islands make up the Philippines, but most of its fast-growing population lives on just 11 of them. A lot of the country is mountains and prone to earthquakes and eruptions from around 20 active volcanoes because the islands are in the Ring of Fire, an arch of fault lines prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The islands are also frequently hit by typhoons and storms.The volcano is a perfect cone shape and a tourist attraction. It’s worst recorded eruption, was in 1814, when more than 1,200 people were killed.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children