ATV rides allowed outside Mayon’s 6-km danger zone

LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines — Tourists and visitors may still enjoy the all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) rides around the restive Mayon Volcano as long as they do not enter the six-kilometer-radius permanent danger zone.

Eugene Escobar, assistant chief of the Albay public safety and emergency management office, issued the clarification over the weekend following reports that hotels and tour guide operators still offer ATV rides on the slopes of the volcano.

After assessing the prevailing condition around the volcano, Escobar said the provincial government still allows ATV rides, but only outside the six-kilometer permanent danger zone.

“We advised concerned local governments and ATV operators to prohibit entry into the permanent danger zone because of the ongoing abnormal condition of Mayon,” Escobar told The STAR.

Aside from ATV rides, tour guide operators include in their special packages camping, trekking and other foot-slope adventures during Mayon’s normal condition.

“We still allow them to engage in these activities except entry into the permanent danger zone as Mayon’s level of unrest remains high,” Escobar said.

Hotels and other tourist destinations in the province including beach resorts have recorded high occupancy rates amid Mayon’s continuous lava flows.

In the past 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded slow lava effusion that extended up to 2,800 meters and 1,300 meters along the Mi-isi and Bonga gullies, respectively.

Collapsed debris remain at 4,000 meters away from the crater.

State volcanologists recorded three dome collapse pyroclastic density current that lasted two minutes, a lava front collapse PDC that generated a 500-meter-high plume, 303 rockfall events and 26 volcanic earthquakes.

“Continuous moderate degassing from the summit crater produced steam-laden plumes that rose 1,000 meters, which drifted southwest and west-southwest. Sulfur dioxide emission averaged at 1,145,” Phivolcs said.

Paul Alanis, Phivolcs resident volcanologist at the Lignon Hill Observatory in this city, said Mayon’s condition remains within the alert level three parameters.

“Based on the current prevailing wind pattern, ashfall events may most likely occur on the south side of the volcano,” Phivolcs said. — Bella Cariaso