Restive Philippine volcano hisses, rumbles, belches ash

Dec 26, 2009, 9:36 GMT

Manila - A restive Philippine volcano on Saturday hissed, rumbled and belched ashes in a persistent display of intense activity.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it recorded overnight 406 volcanic explosions in Mayon Volcano in Albay province, 360 kilometres south-east of Manila.

The agency said it detected two hissing and 26 rumbling sounds, indicating that magma continued to move up the cone.

A total of 142 rockfall events and 33 ash eruptions reaching as high as 1,000 metres were also observed during the past 24 hours.

Phivolcs volcanologist Ed Laguerta said seismic activity of Mayon had decreased compared to recent days, but its activity remained intense and a hazardous eruption was still probable within days.

'If we look at Mayon's history in 1984, it calmed down for a few days before it erupted,' he said.

Neary 50,000 people living on the slopes of the volcano have been evacuated and soldiers and police strictly imposed checkpoints to prevent residents from returning to their homes.

The 2,472-metre volcano has erupted about 50 times since 1616. It last erupted in July 2006, forcing more than 30,000 people to flee their homes.

Mayon's most violent eruption was in 1814, when more than 1,200 people were killed and a town was buried in volcanic mud. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.