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Heightened volcanic activity at Mayon Volcano, the most active volcano in the Philippines, has forced authorities to evacuate close to 3,000 people from high-risk areas on its slopes, officials said Wednesday. The alert level for Mayon, located in Albay province in the country’s northeast, was raised to Level 3 on Tuesday after monitoring teams recorded repeated rockfalls from the summit crater, some comparable in size to vehicles, along with dangerous pyroclastic flows—rapid streams of superheated ash, gas and debris. Under the country’s five-tier warning system, Level 5 signals a major explosive eruption accompanied by violent ash emissions and widespread fallout. “This activity already qualifies as an eruption, though a relatively quiet one,” said Teresito Bacolcol, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. He explained that lava has been building up near the summit, causing the dome to expand and crack, leading to the observed rockfalls. Bacolcol noted it remains uncertain whether the situation will escalate into a more violent eruption, as other critical indicators—such as increased volcanic earthquakes or high sulfur dioxide emissions—have not yet been detected. Read More: Palm trees under the axe; Naogaon bypass pays an environmental price With assistance from troops, police and disaster-response teams, authorities relocated more than 2,800 residents from 729 families living within a six-kilometer danger zone around the crater, an area permanently restricted due to its high risk, according to Albay provincial officials. In addition, about 600 people living outside the permanent danger zone chose to evacuate voluntarily to government-run shelters, said Claudio Yucot, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense. Despite longstanding prohibitions, many residents have continued to live or farm within the danger zone for generations, while activities such as quarrying and tourism have also persisted. Mayon has erupted 54 times since records began in 1616. Standing 2,462 meters tall, Mayon is famed for its nearly perfect cone and is one of the country’s top tourist attractions. At the same time, it remains the most active among the Philippines’ 24 potentially active volcanoes. A stark reminder of its destructive power is the lone bell tower of a 16th-century church still visible in Albay—what remains of a town buried during the catastrophic 1814 eruption that killed around 1,200 people. The continued presence of communities within Mayon’s hazard zones highlights the broader challenge faced by many low-income Filipinos who live in disaster-prone areas across the archipelago. Located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the Philippines also endures frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and an average of 20 typhoons each year.

Truckloads of villagers on Tuesday fled Philippine communities close to the erupting Mayon volcano, traumatized by the sight of red-hot lava flowing down its crater and fearful of sporadic blasts of ash. Nearly 15,000 people have left the mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon's crater in northeastern Albay province in forced evacuations since volcanic activity spiked last week. Albay's governor extended the danger zone by a kilometer (more than half a mile) on Monday and asked thousands of residents to be ready to move anytime. Also Read: Philippines’ Mayon Volcano spews lava down its slopes in gentle eruption putting thousands on alert But many opted to flee from the expanded danger zone even before the mandatory evacuation order. "There's lava and ashfall already," Fidela Banzuela, 61, said from a navy truck where she, her daughter, grandchildren and neighbors clambered up after leaving their home in San Fernando village close to Mayon. "If the volcano explodes, we won't see anything because it would be so dark." Her daughter, Sarah Banzuela, fled with her two children, including a 2-year-old who has asthma, which she said could be triggered back by volcanic ash that rained down on their village over the weekend. Also Read: Philippines evacuates people near Mayon Volcano, where more unrest indicates eruption may be coming "There's ashfall already and, at night, there's red-hot lava from the volcano that seems to be moving closer to us," Sarah Banzuela, 22, told The Associated Press. She and her mother arrived at a grade school turned into an evacuation center teeming with other displaced villagers. After days of showing signs of renewed restiveness, including a swarm of rockfalls and a bright-orange crater glow visible at night, Mayon began expelling lava Sunday night, which flowed slowly down two gulleys on its southeastern slope, government volcano experts said. An ash plume that shot up to 328 feet (100 meters) at dawn on Tuesday drifted southeastward with the wind toward some villages, said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Also Read: Philippines warns of possible flooding, landslides as Typhoon Mawar slowly passes to north An AP video showed a boulder getting ripped from the side of a dome of lava in Mayon's crater then plunging and breaking into smaller red-hot pieces as it rolled down and smashed onto other stones on the volcano's steep slope. The 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) Mayon is a top tourist draw in the Philippines because of its picturesque conical shape but is the most active of 24 known volcanoes in the archipelago. It last erupted violently in 2018, displacing tens of thousands. In 1814, Mayon's eruption buried entire villages and left more than 1,000 people dead. With its peak often shrouded by wisps of passing clouds, Mayon appeared calm on Tuesday, but Bacolcol told AP that lava was continuing to flow slowly down its slopes but could not easily be seen under the bright sun. The volcano had been raised to alert level three on a five-step warning system last Thursday, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible in weeks or days. The eruption is the latest natural calamity to test the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June last year and inherited an economy that was shattered by two years of the coronavirus pandemic, which also deepened poverty and unemployment. He has deployed some of his Cabinet officials to Albay to help distribute food aid to and reassure displaced villagers. Liza David Balbin fled with her children to an emergency shelter in Santo Domingo town after she got scared of Mayon's lava emissions and her farming community of San Antonio was hit by ashfall. The 48-year-old housewife said the government should find an effective way of relocating poor Filipinos like her away from volcanoes, mountainsides where landslides are common and coastlines that are lashed by tidal waves. In 1991, Balbin witnessed Mount Pinatubo blowing its top in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. The massive ashfall and volcanic mudflows wiped out her village and outlying communities in Pampanga province north of Manila. She survived and years later married a man who took her to his home province of Albay, where they lived in an impoverished village not far from Mayon. "I escaped from Pinatubo then ended up near Mayon volcano," she told AP with a laugh. "Why is my life like this?" "If only we've got money, we would have left that danger zone and built a house far away," said Balbin, who makes a living doing laundry. "Now we're in an evacuation camp again and it's really been a difficult life. This is too much."  

The Philippines' most active volcano was gently spewing lava down its slopes Monday, alerting tens of thousands of people they may have to quickly flee a violent and life-threatening explosion. More than 12,600 people have left the mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon Volcano's crater in mandatory evacuations since volcanic activity increased last week. But thousands more 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. Also Read: Philippines evacuates people near Mayon Volcano, where more unrest indicates eruption may be coming  

Philippine troops, police and rescue workers began forcibly evacuating residents near Mayon Volcano on Friday as its increasing unrest indicated a violent eruption of one of the country's most active volcanoes is possible within weeks or days. The area within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon's crater is supposed to be off-limits due to possible volcanic emissions, lava flows, rockfalls and other hazards. But many poor villagers have built houses and tended farms in Mayon's danger zone over the years. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said an evacuation of residents from the permanent danger zone was underway and promised to provide aid to the displaced until the crisis ended. Also Read: Philippines warns of possible flooding, landslides as Typhoon Mawar slowly passes to north "Right now, what we are doing is preparing and moving people away from the area so that, should the time come, I hope it doesn't happen…we're ready," Marcos told reporters. "But unfortunately science tells us that may happen because the lid or the cap on top of the lava is slowly rising." Authorities had raised the alert level for the volcano in northeastern Albay province Thursday after superheated streams of gas, debris and rocks cascaded down its upper slope, indicating activity below the surface that could precede a hazardous eruption. Conditions have advanced a little bit more Friday, although lava hasn't started to flow, Marcos said. The numbers of residents being evacuated weren't immediately available. A tourist draw for its picturesque conical shape, 2,462-meter (8,077-feet) Mayon last erupted violently in 2018, displacing tens of thousands of villagers. Government volcano experts raised the alert level around Mayon to the third of a five-step warning system Thursday after detecting an increasing number of rockfalls and at least two volcanic earthquakes in recent days. Six brief volcanic gas and ash emissions streamed down the volcano's southern gullies about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the crater Friday. Numerous rockfalls and thin ash and steam plumes that drifted south were also observed, the government volcanology institute said. Mayon is at "a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days," the institute said in its latest update Friday morning. Mayon is one of the most restive of two dozen active volcanoes across the Philippines. Officials also were closely monitoring Taal Volcano south of Manila and Mount Kanlaon on central Negros island due to renewed signs of restiveness. A number of villages in three towns near Taal suspended classes Wednesday due to thick smog emanating from the volcano and residents were advised to limit outdoor activities and wear masks for protection. The Philippines lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the area around the ocean rim where tectonic plates meet that is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.