Red-hot lava flows down Mount Mayon in a stream. Ash plumes stretch three miles above the volcano, blocking sunlight from coconut groves. Officials in the Philippines warn local villagers: “GET OUT OF TOWN—right away!” That’s good advice! Would you follow it?

Not everyone does. People feel tempted to travel back toward the mountain to check on their farms and homes. They want to feed their animals. Police set up checkpoints. They know the mountain could blow at any time. If it does, hot gas and volcanic matter will pour down. The flow will destroy anyone and anything in its fiery path. One official recommends turning off electricity and water in homes near the volcano. Will that discourage people from returning to the dangerous area?

The Philippines sits in the “Ring of Fire,” a string of volcanoes and active earthquake areas circling the Pacific Ocean. In that ring, the Earth’s plates slip underneath each other. That process is what causes volcanoes and earthquakes. People in the Philippines live among 22 active volcanoes. Past eruptions have killed thousands there.

More than 50,000 people listen to officials’ warnings. They take refuge in schools turned into evacuation shelters. Imagine this: You get up one morning to go to school. But school is cancelled. You get a “volcano day.” But it’s not because it’s too dangerous to go to school, like it would be on a snow day. It’s because school is the only safe place to be—and the whole town has showed up there! And you might see some rescued animals too: poultry, pigs, cows, and water buffalos!