MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - More than 12,000 people have been forcibly evacuated in the Philippines as seismologists raise alert over the potential eruption of archipelago's most active volcano.
"We are now raising the alert status of Mayon Volcano from alert level 2 to 3," Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said, as quoted by Reuters.
The volcano is located in the central Albay province on the Luzon Island, and has erupted at least 48 times since 1616.
"What the alert level 3 did was to fast-track the preparation to evacuate 12,000 families in the 6-8 km extended danger zone," Albay's Governor Joey Salceda said, adding that people will be provided with temporary shelters for up to three months, according to Reuters.
The Philippines make the so-called Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean, an area subject to most of the world's eruptions.
