The Mount Mayon is a volcano that has an exact symmetrical cone. It is called the "perfect cone". The location of the volcano is at the province of Albay in Luzon. The perfect cone has an elevation of 8,081 ft with a prominence of 8,028 ft. As an active volcano its last eruption was on the year 2010. Mayon can be found at the tip or within the boundary of Legazpi City. In the year 2000 it was developed into a national park. It is also nicknamed as Bulkang Magayon after the legend of "Daragang Mayon".
The perfect cone of the volcano was formed by layers of lava flows and eruptions that it has gone through in the past years. It is included in the Pacific Ring of Fire like other volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. The volcano is situated in the east side of Luzon with a position close to the Philippine Trench or the boundary wherein the Sea Plate is placed right under the Mobile Belt. When these plates collide with the oceanic plate it is driven down towards the Earth’s mantle. Magma enters and finds a way through exit points such as the Mount Mayon through those gaps in the crust created by the collision of plates.
For over 400 years Mayon Volcano has erupted 48 times. It is the most active volcano in the Philippines. Its most vicious eruption ever recorded was on February 1, 1814 when the volcano spitted black ashes continuously until it buried Cagsawa town. It is the most fatal explosion as its casualties rose to 2,200 Albay residents. There are theories that this explosion triggered the eruption in Mount Tambora the following year which led to the "Year Without Summer" of 1816.
As for the longest eruption without any interruption the Mayon volcano spitted fire for seven days starting on June 23, 1897. It erupted eastward so that Bacacay Village was buried 49ft under the lava. This eruption took 100 lives in Libon and another 400 from the other surrounding villages.
Fortunately in the 1984 eruption an estimated number of more than 70,000 people were evacuated from danger zones before the volcano erupted. There were low casualties also in the 1993 eruption compared to past eruptions as only 77 were killed most of which were farmers.
It was the same with the 2006 eruption which has no record of any loss of life. It is reported though that the said eruption was now weaker than the past. But some scientists still believe that the rumblings and activities that Mount Mayon is going through constantly from 2006 to 2011 are all part of a possibly more destructive eruption somewhere in the future.
Legends were offered by the people in an attempt to provide answers to the mysterious origin of Mayon. According to them there used to be a princess who had a very possessive uncle named Magayon. Men were so afraid to court the girl because of her uncle. One day a warrior got so obsessed with the princess. He was so much in love that he convinced her to go with him to a faraway place. With Magayon in pursuit the princess and the warrior prayed for help from the gods. Suddenly there came a landslide which buried Magayon alive. Local folks believe that it is Magayon's anger which bursts out from the Mount's cone.
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