06 September 2006
LEGAZPI CITY—Evacuated residents will have to wait for two more weeks of “significant decline” in Mayon Volcano's activity before they could return to their homes which have been tagged as Extended Danger Zones by authorities.
Last Monday was the first time the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded no instance of volcanic earthquakes since the alert level was raised to 4 on August 7.
On Sunday, Phivolcs said it recorded the occurrence of 11 volcanic quakes which determine the movement of magma inside the volcano.
Julio Sabit, supervising science research specialist of Phivolcs-Manila, said the observation last Monday was too short a period of time to be able to establish a trend.
“A couple of weeks is our stand-down procedure. If the decline continues, then we will lower the alert level but if a fluctuation in volcanic activity shows up in the succeeding days then we will have to maintain the heightened level of unrest,” Sabit said.
The sulfur dioxide emission rate also decreased to 1,447 tons daily from the previous 2,961 tons daily.
The baseline S02 measurement of Mt. Mayon is 500 tons daily. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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