Mother Nature has many surprises in store for us, but nobody in the Philippines was excited about being her next target.

An erupting Philippine volcano belched burning-hot lava, hazardous debris, and clouds of thick ash at least four times on Wednesday, January 24, thus prompting the number of displaced villagers to swell to above 74,000! In turn, this has caused officials to brace for a humanitarian emergency that they fear could last several months.

Mount Mayon, the volcano that recently erupted, has been acting up for more than a week. Ejecting ash and, “lava fountains up to 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the crater in a picturesque but increasingly dangerous eruption,” it finally let loose and put the people in the Philippines at extremely high levels of danger and risk.

Based on its previous eruptions, Mayon’s uneasiness could last from two to four months, prompting Albay and national authorities to take steps to ease the impact on schools and public health and safety.

Junior Luke Jacobs is very surprised with this recent news. “That’s actually crazy,” he admits. “[Natural disasters] are everywhere!… I do feel like we should be helping them. These are dark times for them, and I’m sure they would appreciate our efforts.”

Sky News reported that the first explosions on Monday caused more than 30,000 villagers from the province of Albay to evacuate. Now, more than 56,000 have villagers have evacuated to emergency shelters, escaping the risk of a full volcanic eruption.

“It’s a logistical nightmare,” Office of Civil Defense regional director Claudio Yucot recited. “Temporary learning centers and dozens of schools have turned into evacuation centers and farm animals will be brought to areas closer to their owners in evacuation camps to prevent more losses to villagers’ livelihoods.”

According to Sky News, disaster relief official Cedric Daep said in a press conference, “If pyroclastic flows hit people, there is no chance for life.”

#Pray for the Philippines!