Mount Mayon Eruption 2014: Impending Volcano Eruption Prompts Philippines to Evacuate Thousands (+Facts, Pictures)

Red-hot lava cascades down the slopes of Mayon volcano, about 340 kilometers (212 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines in its continuing "mild and quiet" eruption late evening Monday July 17, 2006. AP Photo/ Bullit Marquez

A possible impending eruption from the Mount Mayon volcano in the Philippines after a series of recent earthquakes and rockfalls.

More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from around the foot of the country’s most active volcano as the crater glows red. 

“We are now raising the alert status of Mayon Volcano from alert level 2 to 3,” Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), told Reutes.

The volcano has erupted nearly 50 times over the last 600 years and last erupted in 2009. It measures 2,460 meters (8,070 feet). The worst eruption was in 1814, when more than 1,200 were killed when lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa.

Phivolcs said that there was “a noticeable escalation of unrest” observed at the mountain, prompting the agency to raise the alert level.

“Since 5:00 AM to 8:00 p.m. today, 39 rockfall events that are ascribed to incipient breaching of the growing summit lava dome across the southeastern crater rim, and 32 low frequency volcanic earthquakes that indicate magma intrusion and/or volcanic gas activity, have been detected,” Phivolcs said in a bulletin on Monday night.

Commuters drive along a road as volcano Mount Mayon (back) spews a thick column of ash 500 metres (1,600 feet) into the air, as seen from the city of Legazpi, albay province, southeast of Manila on May 7, 2013. AFP/Getty Images

A cloud obscures the lava flow down the side of the Mount Mayon Volcano Saturday, June 23, 2001. AP Photo/Ed Wray

A Filipino farmer and his water buffalo work in a rice field Monday, June 25, 2001, under the smoking Mount Mayon Volcano which has been erupting for the last three days in Bonga, about 330 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila. Villagers living near the volcano have been evacuated to the nearby town of Legaspi, but many have been returning during the day to work in their fields despite the danger. AP Photo/Ed Wray

The Mayon volcano is seen from a plane over Legaspi City, Albay province, south of Manila on May 4, 2010. AFP/Getty Images

Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum told dzBB radio that the volcano’s creator has been glowing while rocks have been falling down the slope.

Level 3 denoted relatively high unrest, including more frequent earthquakes and an increase in sulfur dioxide flux.

Magma is closer to the crater, and if the trend becomes one of increasing unrest, “eruption is possible within weeks,” according to the agency.

The British embassy in Manila previously alerted its nationals living or vacationing in the Philippines to avoid Mount Mayon.

“Avoid volcanic areas during and immediately after heavy rainfall when there is increased risk of lahar flows,” it said, advising its nationals to keep up with news updates.