777win Kanlaon Volcano erupts
Updated:2024-12-11 03:42 Views:98MANILA777win, Philippines — An “explosive eruption” occurred at Kanlaon Volcano in Negros Island at 3:03 p.m. yesterday, prompting the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to raise Alert Level 3 in surrounding communities.
Alert Level 3, according to Phivolcs, means “a magmatic eruption has begun that may progress to further explosive eruptions.”
The agency advised all local government units to “evacuate the six-kilometer radius from the summit of the volcano and prepare for additional evacuation, if activity warrants.”
State volcanologists said the eruption produced a voluminous plume that rapidly rose to 4,000 meters and drifted west-southwest.
“Pyroclastic density currents or PDCs descended the slopes on the general southeastern edifice,” Phivolcs said.
Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol said the eruption lasted 10 minutes, from 3:03 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. yesterday, as he warned of ashfall amid the voluminous plume from the volcano.
“The possibility (that an eruptive eruption may still happen) is always there, based on the behavior of the Kanlaon Volcano in the past. Its eruption was followed by successive eruptions, not only once,” Bacolcol said, citing records of the 2016 and 2017 eruptions, which occurred just a few weeks apart.
Bacolcol hopes that lava flow will not occur at Kanlaon Volcano, similar to its eruption in 1903.
“We hope it will not happen. The last time there was a magmatic eruption was 1903. So far, we don’t see it happening, but we are not discounting the possibility that it can happen,” he said.
Ashfalls were reported in Bago and La Carlota cities and in the towns of La Castellana, Moises Padilla and Isabela – all in Negros Occidental – and in Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
Andylene Quintia, Phivolcs resident volcanologist for Kanlaon, said in a separate radio interview that a booming sound was heard during the volcano’s explosive eruption.
“We heard the booming sound at our station in La Carlota. A seismic signal or movement in the ground also occurred during the explosive eruption,” Quintia said, adding that people in nearby communities are advised to wear masks to protect themselves from the ashfall and to stay indoors.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson ordered residents in affected villages to follow evacuation orders, to wear masks, goggles and protective clothing, and to stay indoors and avoid the hazard zones.
Classes were suspended in Canlaon City and in La Castellana and Isabela towns.
Canlaon City Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas ordered residents of Barangays Lumapao, Malaiba, Pula and Masulog to evacuate.
La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Mangilimutan also ordered a forced evacuation of residents within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone.777win