On Monday, a humanitarian aid shipment from the UAE reached the Philippines to support thousands of Filipinos evacuated from villages near the most active volcano in the country, which has begun emitting lava and sulphuric gas.
On Sunday night, the Mayon volcano in the central Albay province started to depose lava. Since Thursday, it has been on the third level of a five-step alert system, indicating high unrest and the possibility of a hazardous explosion.
However, Philippine authorities evacuated more than 14,000 people living within the 6-km radius “danger zone” of Mayon’s crater to safety after volcanic activity increased last week.
The Philippine Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin ” Benhur” Abalos said, “On hearing the news of Mayon’s increasing unrest, the UAE government donated 50 tons of food items to the Southeast Asian country.”
Abalos said that the aid shipment from the UAE is the first foreign donation the Philippines have received to support humanitarian and relief efforts for Mayon.
He added, ” We are very, very thankful… The gesture they made touched us.”
The food aid arrived on a chartered Etihad plane early Monday morning, and the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development said it is working to send the items to those affected by the increased activity of the Mayon volcano.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said, “The role of DSWD is to send these goods to Mayon in 24 hours, and on Wednesday morning, these should be in their hands”.
Abalos added that Phillies officials are now preparing to lift the volcano’s alert to the fourth level, meaning that 40,000 persons are evacuated.
He added, ” We just have to look at the preparations being made, and also, there are enough evacuation centers, food supplies, etc..”
The 2,462 meter high Mayon, situated around 330 km southeast of Manila’s capital, is a popular tourist attraction in the Phillies because of its near-perfect conical shape. It also erupted violently in 2018, displacing ten thousand villagers.
Moreover, Mayon is the most active of about two dozen volcanoes in the Philippines and has erupted more than 50 times in the last four centuries.
Situated along the Pacific ” Ring of Fire,” the Philippines is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The 1991 explosion of the long-dormant Mount Pinatubo killed around 800 people and was one of the most significant volcanic outbreaks of the last century.
