Major eruption expected by Mayon

Intense seismic activity is being recorded as Mayon becomes more unstable. Almost all of the 47-thousand people living in the danger zone have been evacuated to emergency shelters.

Ash columns were seen rising during a break in the clouds above the volcano. Experts recorded more than 12-hundred quakes in a period of 24 hours -- down from nearly two-thousand the previous day.

A scientist says though there were fewer quakes, they were larger.

Renato Solidum, Director Phivolcs, said, "For the past 24 hours the seismic activity of the volcano which is at a high level was sustained and in fact currently the seismic activity is somewhat becoming more intense than the previous days."

Scientists have raised Mayon's alert level to one step below a major eruption.

Mayon volcano spews ash anew in a mild eruption as viewed from Legazpi city in Albay province, 500 kilometers southeast of Manila, Philippines Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)