Fear is sweep­ing through the vil­lage of Pi­paro this morn­ing as the mud vol­cano shows height­ened ac­tiv­i­ty, with loud rum­bling and mud and gas­es spew­ing in­to the air.

Res­i­dents said some homes are crack­ing, and a por­tion of the road is al­ready im­pass­able.

Fi­del Solomon, who lives very close to the site, said the sit­u­a­tion is wors­en­ing by the hour. He said it is worse than the ma­jor erup­tion a few years ago when his home was split. He has al­ready be­gun pack­ing his be­long­ings, brac­ing for the pos­si­bil­i­ty of evac­u­a­tion.