Philippines Mayon Volcano Eruption on Christmas 2009
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009Philippines is one of world’s most dangerous countries ranking right up there along with Iraq and Afghanistan. Only suicidal people would choose Philippines as their vacation destination but it looks like the dangers of the Philippines are far more stretched. Mother Nature is about unleash her fury through eruption of Philippines’ most active volcano – Mayon Volcano. Since Philippines are half day ahead of North America, it’s already December 23, 2009 there and Mayon Volcano has been hurling more and more lava for 8 days. More than 50 thousand people living in Legazpi city and surrounding areas in Albay province have been evacuated or fled their homes as Mayon Volcano clouded the sky with ashes and sulphuric fumes.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology warns that major explosion is quite likely still before the end of 2009. Meantime, the alert level for Mayon Volcano has been risen to four. On the one to five scale, three means that major eruption will occur in near future. Five means that an eruption is happening right now. Four basically means that an eruption is more or less imminent.
Mayon Volcano is located 300 miles (about 500 kilometres) southeast of Philippines’ capital Manila and has erupted 48 times since nations started keeping track of the eruptions. The video of Mayon Volcano covering Philippines in thick white smoke on Christmas of 2009 is below:
Photo of Philippines Mayon Volcano belching out lava by Associated Press