3.1.5.7 - A multi-hazardous environment beyond the UK

Albay and interacting hazard pathways

Albay is a multi-hazard environment because different physical processes overlap in place and can combine to generate new pathways of danger.

Mayon is an active stratovolcano on southeastern Luzon. Eruptive lava, pyroclastic flows, falling material and gases threaten different areas around it. Typhoons bring wind and heavy rain to the province; steep slopes and channels route runoff and sediment towards lower settlements. Coastal exposure also differs from exposure beside an inland volcanic channel. A province boundary describes an administrative unit, not a uniform hazard footprint.

Rain can remobilise older loose volcanic deposits into lahars, so a damaging volcanic-material flow can occur without a new eruption that day. Volcanic sediment alters channels; a later storm then supplies water. This is an interaction between hazards, not merely two unrelated events listed in one place. Channel blockage or changed flow routes can create further downstream flood risk. Management must consider the condition of deposits, drainage and exposed infrastructure.

Typhoon Rolly/Goni made landfall at Tiwi, Albay, on 1 November 2020 local time. PAGASA records 354.4 mm at Guinobatan over 29 October–3 November 2020; this is a station total over the stated period, not a province-wide daily average. PAGASA 2020 tropical-cyclone report. After the 2020 typhoon sequence, PNA's direct interviews with PHIVOLCS/APSEMO officials describe relocation recommendations for settlements along Mayon lahar routes. Those recommendations identify continuing risk; they do not prove completed relocation or attribute every impact that year solely to Goni.

Uneven risks and the 2023 disruption

Exposure and capacity differ between communities, while volcanic disruption extends beyond the immediate physical hazard zone.

The DSWD terminal report of 28 January 2024 records Mayon raised to Alert Level 3 on 8 June 2023 and lowered to Level 2 on 8 December. It reports 38,382 people affected in 26 Albay barangays and 20,607 displaced during the episode. Of those displaced, 19,153 used evacuation centres and 1,454 stayed with relatives or friends. These are cumulative episode measures; its terminal tables do not imply all were still displaced in January 2024.

Evacuation reduced immediate exposure but disrupted everyday life. Social risk includes injury, interrupted schooling, separation and crowded temporary accommodation. Economic risk includes inability to reach farms and customers, with income loss even where premises remain intact. Environmental risk includes lava/debris deposition, erosion and rainfall remobilisation of sediment; a shelter outside one zone can still depend on roads crossing another. The costs and benefits of moving differ with land ownership, income, transport and caring responsibilities.

DSWD reports about PHP 326.8 million in assistance provided for the episode, including goods and financial support. That demonstrates delivery of assistance, not complete restoration of livelihoods. Numerical totals describe scale but need qualitative evidence of who found help adequate. An affected-person count and a displaced-person count are different measures; displaced people are part of the broader affected population, so the two totals must not be added as distinct groups.

This case also reveals governance through alert levels, evacuation decisions and assistance allocation. Agencies need to coordinate hazard information with local authorities and communities. Different priorities can arise between protecting life, sustaining farming and limiting prolonged displacement. A national or provincial total cannot demonstrate that every household had equal access to those decisions.