Mayon and the volcanoes of Bicol

Mayon is the reason most people come to Albay and it is an active volcano that has been in some state of unrest for most of 2026. Bulusan in Sorsogon has moved twice this year. Here is where both stand, with the date each level was set.

Mayon

Alert Level 2 · moderate unrestAlbay

Downgraded from Alert Level 3 on 5 August 2026. Level 3 had been in place since 6 January 2026. PHIVOLCS recorded lava collapse rockfalls falling from an average of 278 a day to 12 a day after 23 July, and volcanic earthquakes from 57 a day to 13. Sulphur dioxide emission peaked at 13,128 tonnes a day on 11 July.

Permanent Danger Zone: 6 km. The 6 kilometre Permanent Danger Zone is off limits at any alert level. Communities along the river channels draining the Mi-isi, Bonga and Basud gullies were told to stay vigilant for lahars.

Alert level set 5 August 2026 · verified 17 August 2026 · PHIVOLCS via Manila Bulletin, 5 August 2026

Bulusan

Alert Level 1 · low-level unrestSorsogon

Bulusan has moved twice this year. PHIVOLCS lowered it to Alert Level 0 on 9 February 2026, then raised it back to Alert Level 1 on 22 March 2026. It was still at Level 1 in the 24-hour bulletin of 6 August 2026, which recorded 70 volcanic earthquakes.

Permanent Danger Zone: 4 km. The 4 kilometre Permanent Danger Zone stays off limits even at Alert Level 0, because phreatic eruptions at Bulusan happen without warning.

Alert level set 6 August 2026 · verified 17 August 2026 · PHIVOLCS 24-hour bulletin, 6 August 2026

Alert levels verified 17 August 2026. PHIVOLCS changes them without notice, so check the live bulletin before you travel: phivolcs.dost.gov.ph and HazardHunterPH.

What the levels mean

Reading a PHIVOLCS alert

Five levels, 0 to 5. The important thing is that the Permanent Danger Zone does not shrink when the level drops.

Level 0, normal

No unrest detected. The Permanent Danger Zone is still closed, because the zone is about what the volcano can do without warning, not about what it is doing today.

Level 1, low-level unrest

Detectable activity above background. Bulusan sits here. Entry to the danger zone remains prohibited.

Level 2, moderate unrest

Increasing unrest, with a possibility of phreatic or minor eruptions. Mayon sits here as of 5 August 2026.

Level 3, intensified unrest

Magma is at or near the crater and a hazardous eruption is possible within weeks. Mayon was at this level from 6 January to 5 August 2026.

Level 4, hazardous eruption imminent

Evacuation of an extended danger zone. This is not a wait-and-see level.

Level 5, hazardous eruption ongoing

Pyroclastic flows and ashfall are happening. Evacuation zones widen.

The Permanent Danger Zone is permanent. Six kilometres at Mayon, four at Bulusan, at every alert level including zero. People do enter these zones. People have also died in them, and the 1814 eruption that buried Cagsawa is the reason the number exists.

1814

What Mayon has already done

On 1 February 1814 Mayon buried the town of Cagsawa under several hundred million cubic metres of tephra and lahar. An estimated 2,000 people were killed. The belfry is still standing and it is now the most photographed view of the volcano.

The full chronology PHIVOLCS live bulletins Disaster services