Over 500 families near the restive Mt. Bulusan in the northern Philippines' Sorsogon province were evacuated on Sunday after another round of explosions from the volcano that triggered ash falls and a series of earthquakes for the past 24 hours.

Director Raffy Alejandro of the regional office of the Philippine Civil Defense said the evacuees are from the "heavily affected" towns of Irosin and Juban. They are housed in evacuation centers and attended to by relief workers.

Alejandro said there was actually no problem in the evacuation since the evacuation came at day time, shortly after the nine- minute explosions started 7:30 a.m. "Barangay officials ordered the evacuations because of the ash falls," he said.

Quoting information from the Philippine institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Alejandro said that as of 8 a.m. Sunday, authorities have recorded a total of 12 volcanic earthquakes.

Alejandro said more people are within the six-kilometer danger zone and they are still awaiting advise from the provincial government if they also have to be evacuated.

As of Sunday, Alejandro said Alert Level 1 remains in place over Mt. Bulusan. When asked if the alert level will be raised in view of the volcano's activities in the day, he said: "They (Phivolcs) said the parameters are still lacking to raise it."

Nevertheless, Alejandro said, the public is reminded not to venture inside the four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone because the area is at risk to sudden ash and steam explosions."

Source: Xinhuanet