Mayon volcano woke up, 12,000 Filipinos evacuated urgently

Mayon Crater of the Philippines is active again. Volcanic scientists warned Mayon could erupt in the next few days that hundreds of thousands of people were forced to evacuate urgently, AFP reported on January 15.

Scientists say that the Mayon volcano peak has been rocked and landslided in the past 24 hours after a number of heat eruptions. More than 12,000 people were ordered to evacuate within a 7km radius of the volcano. In addition, warnings about dangers and malicious clouds have been released.

Claude Yucot - head of the regional civil defense office shared with AFP about the risk of inhaling toxic ash as well as mud from volcanic eruptions for families in this area."Because continuous rains in the past few weeks combined with rocks on the slopes of Mayon mountain can form lahar flows. If the rain does not stop it can be very dangerous." Lahar is a specialized term for the extremely fast flow of mud, debris and water from a volcanic eruption.

Filipinos evacuated because the Mayon volcano returned.(Photo: Reuters).

Steam eruptions and landslides started from the end of the week. On the night of January 14, the crater began to glow red. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanic and Volcanic Research (Phivolcs), this is a sign of the strengthening of the new lava.

Mayon's latest eruption was 2014 and left 63,000 people evacuated.

"We think lava this time is looser than in 2014. This means that the flow goes further and faster," Phivolcs expert Renato Solidum told AFP.

Mayon Volcano 330 kilometers southwest of Manila. Mayon volcano is 2,460m high and has a history of eruption causing much damage.

Four foreign tourists and local tour guides were killed when Mayon erupted in May 2013.

In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed when lava buried the town of Cagsawa.

The eruption in August 2006 did not take people's lives, but four months later, a storm caused landslides from the slopes of Mayon to erode, killing 1,000 lives.