Mayon eruption causes more chaos

After days of rumbling warnings the Mayon volcano has finally erupted.

It had been has been oozing lava and belching clouds of ash for a week and the thousands of villagers who live nearby had been evacuated.

Despite the threat though many residents have been sneaking back to their homes in the danger zone to attend traditional Christmas Eve family gatherings, or to tend to their livestock and crops.

But with Molten lava streaming down it's slopes just before Christmas Day, it seems that scientific warnings have been spot on and there could well be a major eruption on its way.

The army has set up checkpoints to prevent people from returning to their villages. Soldiers were helping to evacuate residents living in the danger zone. Authorities emptied an eight kilometre zone around Mayon last week when the volcano started rumbling.

There are now thought to be 47,000 displaced persons and many are getting fed up with life in the temporary shelters. Police and soldiers have been putting on Christmas entertainment to try and entice them to stay.

The Mayon volcano has erupted nearly 40 times over a 400 year span but never during the most important event in the Philippine calendar - Christmas time.

Let us hope that when the explosion comes it will not be as big as that of Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines in 1991, considered one of the biggest eruptions of the last century.

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• christmas

[Bitchhunter]

i have the same eruption on a tape filmed during my december/january trip to the philippines. I have also some photos of the beginning of this explosion which showing, that this event took place at the base of the volcano near a lahar track! It was the first time for me to watch a volcano erupting and it was stunning!

[SJB666]

Where is the smoke and ash coming from at the base of the mountain at the start of the videoclip? Looks weird.