(Manila) The alert level was raised Monday after the “explosive eruption” of a volcano in the central Philippines which projected a plume of ash five kilometers into the air.
The eruption of Mount Kanlaon, on the island of Negros, occurred shortly before 7 p.m. and lasted six minutes, the local volcanology agency said
The authorities have alerted local residents, urging them to wear masks due to the risk of falling volcanic ash and gas fumes.
“When it erupted, we heard a noise that sounded like thunder,” Ethan Asentista-Khoo, 35, said from his home in the village of Pula, about six kilometers from the volcano.
“It was as if there had been a fire on the crater of the volcano, which lasted about one to two minutes,” added this resident, who said he did not see “neither lava nor rocks” coming out during the fire. the rash.
The Philippines is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, made up of more than half of the world’s volcanoes. Kanlaon is one of the 24 active volcanoes of the archipelago.
“An explosive eruption […] produced a large, incandescent plume that quickly rose to 5,000 meters,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, raising the alert level from one to two on a scale of five.
The institute also reported the likely occurrence of flows of ash, rock and gas, called pyroclastic flows, on the flanks of the volcano.
Sulfur smell
Joe Alingasa, a San Carlos municipality relief official, said authorities intended to evacuate “as quickly as possible” about 500 families living closest to the volcano.
“We also brought masks, because residents reported a strong smell of sulfur in the area,” he said.
Eruptions can be devastating, with ash flows and fallout posing a danger to the population.
Pyroclastic flows are made up of gas, ash and boulders that roll down the sides of a volcano and burn everything in their path.
Mudslides can also occur subsequently during heavy rains, which can bury entire villages under volcanic sediments.
Ash clouds are dangerous for planes, and their fall can cause roofs to collapse.
The most powerful volcanic eruption in recent decades in the Philippines was that of Pinatubo in 1991, about a hundred kilometers from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.