Spending time with a rumbling GIANT (Mayon Volcano)

Posted by Jayson Suratos on Tuesday, September 22, 2009


Last February 2006, The Philippines had an unfortunate event of having its one of many active volcanoes erupt again and this time it is the majestic Mayon Volcano of Albay in the Bicol region. I was the assigned satellite engineer Broadcast Network to go on location. I, with the rest of the Television News team went to Albay province to provide live up to date broadcasts.

We stayed approximately 11 kilometers away from the volcano, 5 kilometers clear of the 6 kilometers danger zone radius. We situated ourselves on a hilltop called Lignon Hill to have a clear view of the volcano. I then with the help of production assistants to help carry and assemble the fly – away satellite that we brought to the location.

We then aired the news to the Philippines and to the world of the mumbling and lava spewing of the Majestic Mayon Volcano.

At first when we saw a small dot of red/ember color at the tip of the imposing 8,000 feet tall volcano. We thought hey maybe we're not safe here and if there would be a really big eruption that it might reach us. So we were already drawing up evacuation plan for ourselves if ever that happens.


   We stayed on the hill for three weeks to cover the eruptions, molten rocks as big as Sports Utility Vehicles rolled down thunderously on the once perfect cone. The flow of lava from the mouth of the Volcano reached almost its base and it presented a beautiful view at night which attracted some of the local, photographers, and tourists as well.


   The locales living near the volcanoes described the Volcano as a giant mumbling and thumping  the ground as the rocks rolled down. The air near the Volcano smelled of burn’t sulfur, “Asupre” in tagalog. A hole on the side of the volcano became evident as it billowed smoke and a pool of lava and molten rocks.

The last scare that we had for this latest rumble of this regal giant was the small explosion that caused the pyroclastic cloud and dust. It actually brought to mind scenes from the Dante’s Peak movie starring 007 himself, Pierce Brosnan.


All in all, this amazing meeting between me and this Colossal Natural wonder was an unforgettable one that I guess only a few would be able to experience.

*****Recent Bulletins states that the Volcano is now on Alert level 2 which is of moderate unrest... where there is a slight chance of ash explosion and eventual eruption.

Next post: