Hospitals and health centers within eight kilometers radius of Mayon Volcano in Albay were placed on blue alert and ordered to attend to families evacuated from their homes. The orders came from the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), which also ordered continued classes in schools doubling as evacuation centers. “Provincial hospitals and city health offices and regional health units within Mayon area are put on Code Blue alert,” the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in its Wednesday situation report. A Code Blue alert means medical personnel will be on duty 24 hours a day and hospitals and community health units are prepared to accept an influx of victimes. PDCC also ordered the suspension of classes in all schools within the eight-kilometer radius of Mayon but ordered authorities in schools used as evacuation centers to adjust their schedules. Lava poured down Mayon volcano Wednesday as experts warned it could erupt for months, meaning thousands of villagers will spend Christmas in crowded evacuation centers. Five small eruptions were detected from Mayon Wednesday morning, the last of which shot ash 500 meters (1,640 feet) into the air, government volcanologist July Sabit said. “Lava flow and lava fragments rolling down the volcano are continuous,” Sabit said. “It is part of the eruptive activity of the volcano. There is a high probability it will be like this for months.” Sabit cited Mayon's last eruption in 2006, when it emitted ash and oozed lava for two months. The eruptions of 2006 did not claim any lives, but left huge deposits of volcanic ash on Mayon's slopes. When typhoon Durian hit the same area in December 2006, it caused a landslide of volcanic ash that killed more than 1,000 people. The government has already evacuated about 23,000 people living in farming villages near the foot of Mayon and hopes to evacuate another 20,000 this week. Most of the evacuation centers are at government schools, where classes have been called off. Raffy Valenzuela, the civil defense chief for Albay province, where Mayon is located, said the makeshift camps were not yet up to standard. “Some (schoolhouses) don't have sufficient bathrooms, others have... no running water. We are still fixing these things because this evacuation has been very sudden,” he said. Chief volcanologist Renato Solidum said that in the “worst-case scenario” of a major eruption, the government might have to evacuate another 15,000 families, or roughly 75,000 people. Military trucks and even heavy trucks intended for construction projects are being used to evacuate residents, Solidum said. The government is ready to forcibly evacuate all villagers within the danger zone but there has been no resistance so far, he added.
