In early August, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recommended an evacuation of thousands of people who live within a danger zone surrounding Mayon volcano and the Philippine government responded with an evacuation order (see our previous post).Mayon continues its activity and remains dangerous in the opinion of the PIVS. The evacuated people remain in numerous temporary evacuation centers which provide uncomfortable accommodations which are expensive for the government to maintain.One of the main causes for concern is the possibility of pyroclastic flows (deadly clouds of hot gases and ash that can flow down the flank of the volcano at great speeds and run several miles from the volcano's base). During an eruption in 1993, seventy seven people were killed by Mayon's pyroclastic flows. The images (below and right) show pyroclastic flows descending Mayon during a 1984 eruption.
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