The number of evacuees from Philippines’ Mayon Volcano eruption on Saturday has reached nearly 5,500 families, affecting more than 102,000 individuals, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported on Monday.
An additional 26 families are staying with relatives in unaffected communities while a city and two towns are blanketed by pyroclastic debris spewed by the country’s most active volcano in Albay province, the agency added.
Mayon’s biggest eruption since January lasted one hour last Saturday, sending tons of fragmental rocks, ash, and glass one kilometre into the air and down the mountain’s biggest gullies. Roofs, roads and vehicles have been covered in up to three inches of ash but residents as well as government agencies have started clearing the debris.
Traffic have started returning to normal two days after the incident, but authorities have prohibited residents to return to their homes that are within six kilometres of the volcano designated as a “danger zone” while Mayon is under Alert Level 3.
Ready-to-harvest rice lost
Meanwhile, a farmers’ organization bewailed the agricultural loss caused by the eruption, including rice, corn, vegetables and other high-value crops in the affected areas.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas secretary general Ronnie Manalo reported that several farm animals such as carabaos, cows, goats and chicken left behind during the evacuations have perished.
Manalo said that most tragic are hundreds of hectares of rice that are ready for harvest had been lost. Albay farmers had been harvesting their dry season rice in April to May as the first crop of the year.
“The livelihood of thousands of farmers has been severely damaged in one fell swoop. We expect that agricultural production in the area would take several months to recover,” Manalo said.
agricultural production in the area would take several months to recover,” Manalo said.
‘Dangerous beauty’
Mayon — an abbreviation of the Bicolano word magayon, which means beautiful — is the Philippines’ most stunning geological feature with its near-perfect conical shape that average between 35 to 40 degrees from its base to the summit.
Its steep and symmetrical angle is maintained by the balance of volcanic eruptions and erosion, creating a cone-shaped mountain of a classic stratovolcano structure.
It is the 2,462-metre high Mayon volcano, with ever-present plumes at the crater, that Filipino children draw in their art classes in school.
The volcano is the centrepiece of tourism in the Bicol region of the Philippines, drawing over two million visitors from January to October 2025.
Its frequent eruptions also fertilize neighbouring areas with its steady infusion of minerals to farmlands.
Mayon’s deadliest eruption occurred in February 1815, killing an estimated 2,200 people and entirely erasing the town of Cagsawa, leaving only a church bell tower standing. The site is now a famous tourist site. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
