Less restive Bulusan to remain under Alert Level 1

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon will remain under Alert Level 1 despite a sustained drop in its seismic activity, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Cris Diolata, Phivolcs duty-officer at the Cavid-An monitoring station in Sorsogon, said the agency would wait for a few more months of sustained drop in the volcano’s abnormal behavior before lowering its alert level.

“Although the quakes are very low and sulphur dioxide and plume emissions have dropped drastically, its ground remains inflated. This means that there is still activity inside the volcano,” Diolata said.

He said the volcano would remain under Alert Level 1 as long as quakes are detected.

Phivolcs said only 12 quakes were recorded in the past seven days, sulfur dioxide emissions were at 250 tons a day and plumes rose for 500 meters.

“The values in Bulusan’s abnormal parameters are now very low compared with those during the weeks after its phreatic eruptions in June,” Diolata said.

Bulusan has been under Alert Level 1 since June 5.