Poor villagers risk their lives in danger zone as Philippines' most active volcano erupts

CALBAYOG, Philippines (AP) — Delfina Guiwan’s heart was pounding as she snuck back to her village, now abandoned and eerily quiet, in the fertile foothills of gently erupting Mayon volcano in the northeastern Philippines.

When patrolling police spotted her, they warned that the village is off-limits because of the danger of a violent eruption at any time. Guiwan, 47, said she knew the risks but begged to stay a few minutes more to get her daughter’s school uniform from their shack and feed her pigs.

“I’m scared. We saw lava flowing down one night and a boulder rolled down, sounding like thunder,” Guiwan told The Associated Press. “I’m praying this eruption won’t get worse because our livelihood is here and it’s difficult to stay in the evacuation camp with few toilets for so many, and the heat. Children are getting sick there.”

Her village, Calbayog, lies in Mayon’s northeastern foothills and is well within the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius from the volcano’s crater that officials have long designated a permanent danger zone, demarcated by concrete warning signs. Entry is prohibited, but thousands of poor villagers have flouted the restrictions and made it their home for generations. Lucrative businesses such as sand and gravel quarrying and sightseeing tours have also thrived openly despite the ban and the mountain’s frequent eruptions — now 53 times on record since 1616.

The 2,462-meter (8,007-foot) volcano is one of the Philippines’ top tourism draws because of its near-perfect cone shape. But it’s also the most active of the country’s 24 volcanoes and could erupt violently at any time.

That includes pyroclastic flows, which are superheated gas and volcanic debris that suddenly race down slopes at great speed and