Philippine troops, police, and rescue workers begin forcibly evacuating residents near Mayon Volcano

Philippine troops, police, and rescue workers began forcibly evacuating residents near Mayon Volcano on Friday as a violent eruption of one of the country’s most active volcanoes is possible within weeks or days.

 

The area within a 6-kilometer  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.

 

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.