Truckloads of food and clothing from the Philippine National Red Cross, charity group World Vision, local civic groups like the Rotary Club and food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. have started to arrive for the 44,000 people forced to flee their homes.

"There are plenty of non-government organizations and companies that are willing to support us in relief items and food," said Legaspi City's disaster coordinator Pecos Intia.

Mayon began spewing lava, ash and gas August 7, leading volcanologists to warn of an imminent eruption. The government ordered mandatory evacuations the same day.

A six to eight-kilometer (four to five-mile) danger zone has been set up around the volcano and residents within the zone have been forced to seek refuge in 28 overcrowded evacuation centers.

The evacuated villagers sleep on cold cement floors in converted schools, with some 50 people crowded into each classroom.

They receive adequate but monotonous rations of rice, instant noodles and canned goods.

Flor Agao, 41, a housewife living in an evacuation center, said: "It would be ungrateful for us to say we are getting tired of eating the same thing day after day."

But she was especially grateful for donations of pork because they added variety to meals.

While the volcano has continued to simmer and send occasional bursts of deadly volcanic ash and gas into the surrounding area, it has yet to explode. But the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that the continued ash explosions, volcanic quakes and gas emissions showed the volcano was still in a high state of unrest.

Scientists warn that an eruption is still likely and that it is too dangerous to let people return home.

Provincial Social Welfare Officer Yolanda Guanzon said that in view of previous eruptions, the villagers might have to stay at evacuation centers for as long as two months.

To stretch out the relief goods, the city and provincial government, augmented by charity donations, will handle the initial upkeep of the evacuation centers. The national government will step in next month, Guanzon said.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who inspected the volcano and visited an evacuation center on Saturday, has ordered the dispatch of prefabricated structures and tents to avoid an outbreak of disease caused by crowded conditions.

Arroyo has said that the government is aiming for a "zero-casualty" figure in the latest eruption of the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) Mayon volcano, whose past explosions have claimed about a thousand lives over the years.

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