These past two weeks, an active volcano has been in the news.  This is the Mayon Volcano located in Albay Province in the Bicol region of the Philippines.  It known for its near perfect cone, which entices tourists to come and take photographs of the volcano.  More recently though, people are actually going to Albay to take photos of Mayon Volcano in its active, restless state.  The volcano?s name came from a legendary princess Daragang Mayon, which translates into English as Beautiful Lady.  In 1938, it was declared as the Mayon Volcano National Park and later reclassified in the year 2000 as a Natural Park.  In 2016, it was declared by UNESCO as the heart of the Albay Biosphere Reserve.

According to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Mayon Volcano has erupted at about 50 times between 1616 to 2006. Hundreds of people living around the volcano have been killed and whole towns buried in its 400 year history of activity.  Mayon is a stratovolcano with a small crater in the middle of its very top.  It releases ashes and lava through this crater. The last time Mayon Volcano erupted was a little more than three years ago in September 2014.

I have friends, who have homes close to Mayon Volcano.  They are all on and life is not normal because Mayon Volcano is ejecting fountains of lava, which flow in different directions and most recently 5-kilometer ash plumes from its crater are ordinary sights. The rumbling continuous and the danger of eruption is evident so more than 60,000 residents in nearby towns within the 8-kilometer danger zone have been evacuated.  Authorities are preparing to evacuate more people outside of the danger zone because of the imminent violent eruption.

As of now, the Level is at 4, which is just one notch below the highest level of 5.  More and more people are displaced and staying in 46 evacuation centers.  One problem though is that villagers or residents try to sneak back into their homes to check on their properties. Authorities are planning to cut off water and electricity in those areas to discourage people from entering the danger zones.  The local and national governments continue to prepare for the volcanic eruption expected within a few days.