A state of emergency has been declared around the Mount Mayon volcano hours after it erupted, spewing ash and lava over the surrounding area.

Although there were no immediate reports of casualties, the authorities fear that more than 50,000 people may have to take shelter in evacuation centres.

The entire central province of Albay has been placed under a "state of calamity" which means that money will be made available to shelter and feed the tens of thousands of people who might eventually have to flee.

So far, some 18,000 people have left the immediate vicinity.

Our correspondent says the volcano spewed out red-hot boulders and hurled columns of ash more than 3,000 metres into the air causing the cancellation of all commercial flights in the area.

The ash has been falling in some places like hot, dry, grey snow. Many people remain within the 8km-radius exclusion zone - previously 6km - and troops and police have been trying to remove them.

The lava is now flowing toward the nearby city of Legazpi, although residents are in no immediate danger. Motorists have been stopping by the side of roads to watch the eruption of the 2,500-metre near-perfect cone-shaped volcano.

Mitch Battros
Producer - Earth Changes TV
http://www.earthchangesTV.com