NEARLY 1,000 FAMILIES EVACUATED IN PHILIPPINES AS MAYON VOLCANO OOZES LAVA

MANILA, Jan 8 (Bernama-Xinhua) — Philippine authorities have evacuated nearly 1,000 families from villages around the erupting Mayon volcano in Albay province on Luzon island, as the famed volcano continued to ooze lava, the country's disaster management agency said on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (NDRRMO) said about 963 families, or 3,516 people, from 13 villages at the volcano's foot are currently staying in government-run evacuation centres across the province.

Initial reports placed the total number of evacuees at nearly 1,000 families, or about 3,555 people. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Tuesday raised Mayon's alert to level 3 after observing the "onset of dome collapse pyroclastic density current".

Under Alert Level 3, Mayon is considered to be undergoing a magmatic eruption of its summit lava dome, with an increased likelihood of lava flows and hazardous pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) that could impact the upper to middle slopes of the volcano.

Phivolcs warned that explosive activity could occur within days or weeks.

Mayon, famed for its near-perfect conical shape, is one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes and has a long history of explosive eruptions that have triggered mass evacuations.  

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA