Mayon volcano erupts in Philippines

Legazpi (Philippines): Lava flowed down the slopes of Mayon volcano, prompting authorities to stockpile food and prepared shelters.

Officials said they saw no need to evacuate people just yet but warned the 8,118-foot volcano could blow in the weeks to come.

The danger zone around the crater was extended from 3.75 miles to 4 miles on the southeastern slope where molten rocks have been rolling down since Friday, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

''What is happening now is a mild and quiet type of eruption,'' Solidum said. ''If it is faster and stronger, it will lead to more hazardous eruptions.''

Volcanologists monitored the number and types of earthquakes for signs of an imminent eruption.

On the streets of Legazpi city, capital of Albay province close to the volcano, 210 miles southeast of Manila, some residents watched as boulders and other debris cascaded from the crater, stirring up brownish-grey clouds of volcanic dust in their wake.

Late Friday, a 1.25-mile-long streak of lava snaked down the southeastern slope, said Jukes Nunez, an operations officer with the provincial disaster officer.

Nunez said an eruption warning system already is in place for quick evacuation of nearby communities. He said radio stations also will broadcast emergency evacuation calls.

Cedric Daep, Albay provincial disaster action officer, said relief officials were stockpiling food and putting evacuation centers on standby to see ''what needs to be repaired or added.''

Mayon, one of the country's 22 active volcanos, last came to life in a series of eruptions in 2001, forcing the evacuation of about 50,000 people. Mayon has erupted about 50 times since 1616.

More recently Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried an entire town in volcanic mud. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.

The Philippines is in the Pacific ''Ring of Fire,'' where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. Bulusan volcano, about 30 miles south of Mayon, has ejected ash in about five minor explosions since March.

In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo exploded in the northern Philippines in one of the world's biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. About 800 people were killed.