Mayon Volcano Stays at Alert Level 3 After Eruption as 1,477 Remain in Albay Shelters

The Philippines’ Mayon Volcano remained under Alert Level 3 on Saturday, Oct. 31, a day after a moderately explosive eruption sent a gray ash plume 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet) above its crater. At least 1,477 residents of Albay province were still in evacuation centers, local officials said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, known as Phivolcs, raised the alert from Level 2 to Level 3 after the eruption at 11:53 a.m. local time Friday, Oct. 30. Level 3 means an increased tendency toward a hazardous eruption on the agency’s five-step scale. It is the second time this year Mayon has reached that level.

What happened at Mayon Volcano

The Friday eruption lasted about six minutes, according to Phivolcs’ 24-hour bulletin as reported by The Philippine Star and The Manila Times. Winds carried the plume west-southwest, and the agency warned of ashfall in the towns of Camalig, Daraga and Guinobatan and nearby areas. Albay Gov. Noel Rosal suspended classes.

Phivolcs said Mayon is entering a phase of magmatic eruption, with a greater chance of lava flows and dangerous pyroclastic density currents, fast-moving avalanches of hot gas and volcanic debris, within days or weeks. Early Saturday, at 5:17 a.m., the volcano released a smaller plume that rose 200 meters above the summit crater before drifting west-southwest, the agency said.

The same bulletin recorded 15 volcanic earthquakes and 30 rockfall events, crater glow visible to the naked eye, and sulfur dioxide emissions of 988 metric tons per day on Oct. 30. Plumes during the monitoring period ranged from 100 to 3,000 meters high. Phivolcs also measured swelling of the volcano with brief deflation on its northeastern side.

Evacuations and the danger zone

Authorities ordered mandatory evacuation of people living inside the volcano’s 6-kilometer (about 3.7-mile) Permanent Danger Zone. On Saturday, Oscar Robert Cristobal, chief of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that 1,477 people remained in evacuation centers: 858 from Tabaco City, 584 from Camalig and 35 from Ligao City. Earlier reports from GMA News and the Daily Tribune put the number of people evacuated at more than 2,000.

By The Boston Report’s math, Tabaco accounts for 58% of the people still in shelters and Camalig for 40%. Police tightened security around the danger zone, and Phivolcs advised pilots to avoid flying close to the summit because ash from a sudden eruption can damage aircraft engines.

By the numbers: Mayon’s 2026 alert history

Mayon has been restless all year. Phivolcs first raised it to Alert Level 2 on Jan. 1, then to Level 3 on Jan. 6 as activity escalated, The Philippine Star reported. The alert stayed at Level 3 for about seven months before the agency lowered it to Level 2 on Aug. 5. By TBR’s count, the volcano spent 86 days at Level 2 before the Oct. 30 eruption pushed it back up.

What Alert Level 3 means

Phivolcs uses a five-level scale for Mayon. Level 1 signals low-level unrest, and Level 2 signals moderate unrest. Level 3, the current setting, means magmatic unrest with an increased tendency toward a hazardous eruption. Level 4 would mean a hazardous eruption is imminent, and Level 5 means one is under way. At higher levels, the danger zone has in past eruptions been extended to 7 or 8 kilometers, which would affect far more households than the 1,477 people now in shelters.

Mayon has a long record of deadly eruptions. In 1814, an eruption buried the town of Cagsawa, and the ruined bell tower of its church is now one of Albay’s best-known landmarks. More recent eruptions forced thousands of residents into evacuation centers for weeks, including tens of thousands in 2018.

What could happen next

Phivolcs warned of possible rockfalls, landslides, ballistic fragments, lava flows and lava fountaining, and pyroclastic density currents. Lahars, the mudflows of volcanic debris that form when heavy rain soaks loose ash, are possible during heavy and prolonged rainfall. That risk matters in the Bicol region, which is often hit by typhoons in the last months of the year.

Mayon, about 330 kilometers southeast of Manila, is famous for its nearly perfect cone and is one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines. It sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the same zone of plate boundaries that produces frequent earthquakes across the archipelago. For more from the region, read our report on the magnitude 5.8 quake off Mindanao and our coverage of the Philippine peso’s slide past 64 per dollar.

Sources

• The Philippine Star: Moderately explosive eruption occurs in Mayon (Oct. 31, 2026)
• Philstar.com: Mayon Volcano emits ash plume; Alert Level 3 remains (Oct. 31, 2026)
• Philippine Daily Inquirer: Over 1,400 Albay folk still in evacuation centers after Mayon eruption
• The Manila Times: Mayon under Alert Level 3 after eruption (Nov. 1, 2026)
• Daily Tribune: Over 2,000 evacuated from Mayon Volcano’s 6-km PDZ in Albay
• GMA News: Over 700 families evacuate in Albay after Mayon Volcano eruption