Hundreds of families were evacuated, forcibly for the first time on Thursday from their residence facing continuous lava flow from the crater of Mayon volcano, which has been in a state of mild eruption for six straight days, officials said.

A lava collapse occurred on 7:45 a.m. Thursday, before the local officials decided to launch a forcible evacuation on Mayon's southeastern slope in the morning, according to a report of the city radio.

Some resisting farmers conflicted with the officials, unwilling to lose their livestock and crops, but by noontime all 100 families were persuaded to leave their residence in Lidong village of Municipality Sto. Domingo, one of the most affected areas in view of the volcano's history of explosions, the report said, referring to an outstanding case of the day's evacuation works.

Forcible evacuation will go on until the local government secures the lives of estimated 7,400 villagers, who live or cultivate crops within the permanent danger zone radius six- kilometer all around the summit of Mayon, Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council executive officer Cedric Daep told Xinhua.

As of press time, the top priority of forcible evacuation remains on Mayon's southeastern slope, currently the only route of lava flow reaching as far as five kilometers down from the summit, Daep said.

Except for the southeastern slope, most evacuees from within the permanent danger zone will still be allowed to return home during daytime, unless the 1-5 volcanological alert reaches level four, meaning Mayon will come into a major explosion inevitably, the official said.

The alert of level three, meaning "relatively high unrest" of the volcano, could not justify the imposition a 24-hour, all-round- summit ban by the local government on entering the six-kilometer permanent danger zone, although residents are advised to stay clear from there, he added.

If alert level four was on, the danger zone subject to evacuation will be extended to eight kilometers; and 10 kilometer if level five declared, Daep said.

"For people living within eight kilometers from the crater, their transportation can be provided by the government during evacuation, but for those beyond eight kilometers and within 10-km extended danger zone, they have to depend on their own," Daep said.

He also said that daily-life facilities such as tents, drinking water supply, toilets and electric lines have yet to be fixed at the evacuation center, adding that if the alert level four stayed for more than a week, the local government's relief budget would be not enough.

In the worst-case scenario, a total of 74,000 people would be evacuated, according to the estimate made by the Albay Provincial Disaster Operation Center.Phivolcs (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) earlier recommended the evacuation of all the people inside the permanent danger zone.

However, both the volcano-monitoring body and the National Disaster Coordinating Council agreed that the final decision lies entirely with the Provincial Government, so as to avoid unnecessary disruption to normal livelihood.

Earlier reports quoting an official briefing said that about 4, 000 farmers are still staying within the permanent danger zone.

Mayon volcano sits in Albay Province, some 300 kilometers southeast of Manila. It last exploded in 2001, forcing 40,000 villagers to flee their homes.

Source: Xinhua