Mayon Volcano - Recorded Eruptions

Recorded Eruptions

Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines having erupted over 48 times in the past 400 years. The first record of a major eruption was witnessed in February 1616 by Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen who recorded it on his log in his circumnavigation trip around the world.

The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Lava flowed but not as much compared to the 1766 eruption. Instead, the volcano was belching dark ash and eventually bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa. Trees were burned; rivers were certainly damaged. Proximate areas were also devastated by the eruption with ash accumulating to 9 m (30 ft) in depth. 2,200 Albay locals perished in what is considered to be the most lethal eruption in Mayon's history. Estimates by PHIVOLCS and list the casualties at about 1200. The eruption is believed to have contributed to the accumulation of atmospheric ash, capped off by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, that led to the Year Without a Summer in 1816.

Mayon Volcano's longest uninterrupted eruption occurred on June 23, 1897 which lasted for seven days of raining fire. Lava once again flowed down to civilization. Seven miles eastward, the village of Bacacay was buried 15 m (49 ft) beneath the lava. In Libon 100 people were declared dead—incinerated by steam and falling debris or hot rocks. Other villages like San Roque, Misericordia and Santo Niño became deathtraps. Ash was carried in black clouds as far as 160 km (100 mi) from the catastrophic event, which killed more than 400 people.

Samuel Kneeland, a professor and a geologist had observed the volcanic activity five months before the eruption:

At night the scene was truly magnificent and unique. At the date of my visit the volcano had poured out...a stream of lava on the Legaspi side from the very summit. The viscid mass bubbled quietly but grandly, and overran the border of the crater, descending several hundred feet in a glowing wave, like red-hot iron. Gradually, fading as the upper surface cooled, it changed to a thousand sparkling rills among the crevices, and, as it passed beyond the line of complete vision behind the woods near the base, the fires twinkled like stars, or the scintillions of a dying conflagration. More than half of the mountain height was thus illuminated.

No casualties were recorded from the 1984 eruption after more than 73,000 people were evacuated from the danger zones as recommended by PHIVOLCS scientists. But in 1993, pyroclastic flows killed 77 people, mainly farmers, during the eruption.

Its 48th eruption was a quiet effusion of lava on July 14, 2006, which was aggravated when a lahar caused by the rains of Typhoon Durian followed on November 30, 2006. The small activities from 2003 and 2004 are considered as precursors to the 2006 eruption. The small summit explosion which occurred on August 10, 2008 is considered as part of the ongoing activity since 2006. Starting in January 2011, the volcano is weakly erupting and may be building up to a larger hazardous eruption.