In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, an explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of Kanlaon volcano, as seen from Mansalanao, Negros Occidental province, Philippines on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP)
ARAB NEWS | Published December 11, 2024
MANILA: About 87,000 people were being evacuated in a central Philippine region Tuesday a day after a volcano briefly erupted with a towering ash plume and superhot streams of gas and debris hurtling down its western slopes.
The latest eruption of Mount Kanlaon on central Negros island did not cause any immediate casualties, but the alert level was raised one level, indicating further and more explosive eruptions may occur.
Volcanic ash fell on a wide area, including Antique province, more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) across seawaters west of the volcano, obscuring visibility and posing health risks, Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol and other officials said by telephone.
At least six domestic flights and a flight bound for Singapore were canceled and two local flights were diverted in the region Monday and Tuesday due to Kanlaon’s eruption, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
The mass evacuations were being carried out urgently in towns and villages nearest the western and southern slopes of Kanlaon which were blanketed by its ash, including in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental where nearly 47,000 people have to be evacuated out of a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone, the Office of Civil Defense said.
More than 6,000 have moved to evacuation centers aside from those who have temporarily transferred to the homes of relatives in La Castellana by Tuesday morning, the town’s mayor, Rhumyla Mangilimutan, told The Associated Press by telephone.
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SOURCE: www.arabnews.pk
RELATED: Philippines volcano eruption forces mass evacuation as ‘more explosive eruption’ expected
Schools shut, night curfew imposed and nearly 87,000 people told to leave their homes
INDEPENDENT | Published December 11, 2024
Nearly 87,000 people in the Philippines have been ordered to leave their homes immediately following the strongest eruption of Mount Kanlaon in recent years.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Tuesday directed everyone living within a 10km radius of the volcano to move out to safer areas.
Kanlaon on the central Negros Island is one of the 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines. It erupted for nearly four minutes on Monday, sending a massive column of volcanic ash high into the sky.
The ash fell over a wide area, as far as the Antique province, which lies over 200km across the sea from the volcano, obscuring visibility and posing health risks, Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol said.
Staying within a 4km radius of the volcano was prohibited as a “sudden and more explosive eruption” was still possible, he added.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines had earlier warned aircraft to avoid the volcano area until Tuesday morning due to the “possible hazards from sudden steam-driven or phreatic eruptions and precursory magmatic activity”.
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SOURCE: www.theindependent.co.uk
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