This week, the eruption of one the most iconic volcanoes in the Philippines – Mount Mayon – came to be. 

The perfect cone shaped volcano spitted bright scarlett lava out of its mouth and clouds of gases to the sky. (see picture below) 

To many Filipinos, scenes of the devastating Mt. Pinatubo eruption come to mind.  This eruption in 1991, was the largest volcanic eruption in the Philippines and the second largest in the world from the 20th century. Just under a thousand people died in this eruption from all over Luzon due to the magnitude of the eruption. Volcanic ash was said to bury a large portion of Manila affecting several components of the environment. 

The eruption in Mayon, however, is fortunately not the scale of Mt. Pinatubo. It is significantly less worrisome. 

Nonetheless, the eruption of Mt. Mayon still caused the displacement of over 40,000 people living in close proximity to the area due to the smoke produced. 

Despite volcanic activities being inevitable in nature, better preparations could be made in the Philippines especially considering that it is within the Pacific Ring of Fire. 

Thank you for reading, 

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