A GENTLE eruption of the Philippines’ most active volcano that has forced nearly 18,000 people to flee to emergency shelters could last for months and create a protracted crisis, officials said today.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr flew to north-eastern Albay province to meet villagers who had been forced to evacuate from mostly poor farming communities within a 3.7-mile radius of the Mayon volcano’s crater since volcanic activity spiked last week.

Authorities enforced a mandatory evacuation of tens of thousands of villagers living within a permanent danger zone around the volcano.