Thousands flee Philippines volcano

Aljazeera news Tuesday, December 15, 2009 07:17 Mecca time, 04:17 GMT

Mount Mayon is the most active of 22 volcanoes dotted across the Philippines [AFP] Thousands of residents living near the slopes of the Philippines's most active volcano have been ordered to evacuate as officials warned it could be on the brink of a major eruption. Mount Mayon in the central Philippines began spewing rivers of lava and plumes of ash on Monday. Officials say a major eruption could occur in the coming days [AFP] The evacuation order came after state volcanologists raised the alert level on the 2,460-meter high volcano to two levels below eruption. Joey Salceda, governor of Albay province, told reporters nearly 50,000 people live in an eight-kilometre radius around Mayon considered the area most at risk in case of an eruption. He has ordered police and the military to help with the evacuation. Many will be moved to government-run evacuation centres, and officials say it is unlikely they will be able to return home before Christmas, the biggest holiday of the year in the mainly Catholic country. Mayon is the most active of 22 volcanoes in the Philippines, having erupted more than 50 times in the last four centuries. The country lies on the volatile "Ring of Fire", a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is also prone to earthquakes. Mayon's most destructive eruption came in February 1841 when lava flows buried a town and killed 1,200 people. The last time the volcano erupted was in 2006. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/12/200912154734698705.html