<div><p>Lava poured down the Philippines' Mayon volcano Wednesday as experts warned it could erupt for months, meaning thousands of villagers will spend Christmas in crowded evacuation centres.</p><p>Five small explosions were detected from Mayon on Wednesday morning, the last of which shot ash 500 metres (1,640 feet) into the air, government volcanologist July Sabit told AFP.</p><p>"Lava flow and lava fragments rolling down the volcano are continuous," Sabit said.</p><p> "It is part of the eruptive activity of the volcano. There is a high probability it will be like this for months."</p><p>Sabit cited Mayon's last eruption in 2006, when it emitted ash and oozed lava for two months.</p><p>The eruptions of 2006 did not claim any lives, but left huge deposits of volcanic ash on Mayon's slopes.</p><p>When Typhoon Durian hit the same area in December 2006, it caused a landslide of volcanic ash that killed more than 1,000 people.</p><p>The government has already evacuated about 23,000 people living in farming villages near the foot of Mayon and hopes to evacuate another 20,000 this week.</p><p>Most of the evacuation centres are at government schools, where classes have been called off.</p><p>Raffy Valenzuela, the civil defence chief for Albay province, where Mayon is located, said the makeshift camps were not yet up to standard.</p><p>"Some (schoolhouses) don't have sufficient bathrooms, others have... no running water. We are still fixing these things because this evacuation has been very sudden," he said.</p><p>Chief volcanologist Renato Solidum said that in the "worst-case scenario" of a major eruption, the government might have to evacuate another 15,000 families, or roughly 75,000 people.</p><p>Military trucks and even heavy trucks intended for construction projects are being used to evacuate the residents, Solidum said.</p><p>The government is ready to forcibly evacuate all villagers within the danger zone but there has been no resistance so far, he added.</p><p>The Mayon threat has come at a particularly inconvenient time of the year for the evacuees as they, like most of the other 92 million people in the predominantly Christian country, prepare for Christmas celebrations.</p><p>Defence Secretary Norberto Gonzales, who is in charge of disaster preparations, conducted an aerial survey of the volcano using a military helicopter on Wednesday.</p><p>He promised to distribute thousands of face masks to villagers to protect them from the effects of any volcanic ashfall.</p><p>The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level for Mayon to three on Monday after lava was seen spewing from the crater, and evacuations began immediately.</p><p>Level three on the five-point scale means a hazardous eruption is likely in the very near future.</p><p>Mayon, which sits above a farming area about 330 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Manila, has erupted 48 times since records began, claiming thousands of lives.</p><p>In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa.</p><p>However the 2,460-metre (8,070-feet) volcano remains a popular tourist attraction, and is famous for its perfect cone.</p><p>The Philippines is part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire" that is known for its volcanic activity. The Philippine volcanology institute lists 22 active volcanoes in the country.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65538885&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

Copyright 2009  <a href="http://www.afp.com/english/links/?pid=copyright">AFP Asian Edition</a></div></div>