Relief workers prepare food ration bags for Mayon Volcano evacuees in Sto Domingo town, Albay province, south of Manila, Sunday. — ReutersLEGASPI, Philippines — Local and foreign tourists as well as their tourist guides who will venture within the eight-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) of the volcano will be arrested, disaster authorities warned. Disaster officials issued the warning as the volcano continues to exhibit abnormal activities such as spewing ashes, lava and minor quakes, which experts say, are signs of an imminent explosion. Unperturbed by the volcano's spectacle, tourists continue to swarm Albay province despite its threat of an explosive eruption within days. Despite tight security the military and police imposed in the area, several foreign tourists with guides have been spotted at the vicinity of Bonga-Mabinit villages that are pinpointed as within Mount Mayon's PDZ. Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan, spokesman of Task Force Mayon and 901st Infantry Brigade, said that this prompted them to deploy a platoon of troops to check on the reported presence of tourists in the danger zones. “A team of soldiers rushed to the area to check the reported presence of foreign tourists and local guides who are sight-seeing on the lava dome,” Bansawan said in a text message. The army official said the reported presence of tourists in the area has prompted Albay Governor Joey Salceda to issue an order against people making unauthorized intrusion in the area. “Governor Salceda said that punitive actions will be imposed on tourists and tourist guides who will defy the provincial government's order of no human activities inside the danger zone,” Bansawan said. The army official added that military and police will be setting up more checkpoints and security patrols to ensure ‘zero human activities' within Mayon Volcano's PDZ. “On the other hand, soldiers manning the checkpoints are also instructed to implement the ‘no reason and no exemption' policy in evacuating defiant residents in the restricted areas,” Bansawan said. Mayon has been spewing lava and sending spectacular fountains of ash into the sky for about two weeks, and authorities have warned that a major eruption could occur any day. Nearly 50,000 villagers living in Mayon's foothills have already been evacuated to areas outside the so-called “danger zone,” which has a radius of eight kilometers. But villagers wanting to tend to their farms, as well as adventurous tourists, have caused headaches for authorities by going into zone. Bansawan expressed frustration at having to waste time dealing with the two foreign tourists Sunday, saying the military had to chase them out of the zone although the pair was not caught. Local emergency management official Jukes Nunez said authorities had noticed tourists visiting Legaspi city near Mayon to watch the lava oozing down the volcano's slopes, which is particularly spectacular at night. But he stressed most tourists did their viewing from designated safe areas. Meanwhile, Mayon, located about 330 kilometers southeast of Manila, continued to give menacing signals that a major eruption was imminent. Chief government volcanologist Renato Solidum said ash emissions had shot about one kilometer into the sky repeatedly Monday. The government's volcanology institute has kept its alert level for Mayon at four since Dec. 20, meaning a major eruption could occur within days. The 2,460-meter (8,070-foot) volcano, which is famed for its near-perfect cone, has erupted 48 times in recorded history. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa. Meanwhile, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) for the Bicol region said that they have started to decongest several evacuation centers of residents to prevent overcrowding. OCD 5 Director Raffy Alejandro said the move of decongesting some evacuation centers was meant to conform within the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). “We're trying to source from the regional and provincial disaster coordinating councils some tents so we can decongest the classrooms,” Alejandro said over a radio interview. Standards set by WHO said that one classroom should be occupied 50 persons. However, Alejandro said that there are at least 70 to 100 persons occupying one classroom at present. Aside from “overcrowding”, the OCD official said that they also have to deal with the problem of lack of toilet facilities. Based on WHO standards, there should be one toilet for every 20 persons in the evacuation centers.
