Evacuees are seen by tents erected at a shelter a day after the eruption of Kanlaon volcano in Bago City, Negros Occidental province on December 10, 2024. A volcano briefly erupted in the central Philippines on December 9, sending a huge ash column high into the sky as the government ordered the evacuation of surrounding villages. - AFP
MANILA: The Philippine office of civil defence has announced an "urgent" evacuation of around 87,000 people has been underway, due to the eruption of the Kanlaon Volcano.
The volcano in the central Philippines erupted on Monday afternoon, spewing a "voluminous plume that rapidly rose 3,000 metres above the vent," said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The institute raised the alert level to three on a scale of five, warning that a "magmatic eruption has begun that may progress to further explosive eruptions."
Residents living within a 6-km radius of the volcano's summit are advised to evacuate, the institute said, adding that the public "must be prepared for additional evacuation if activity warrants."
Black ash from the eruption blanketed villages around the volcano, television footage showed. Local media reported that authorities have been preparing for the worst-case scenario of raising the alert level to four, if necessary, which would necessitate further evacuation of people.
Hours before the explosive eruption, state volcanologists recorded six volcanic earthquakes and a 16-minute-long ash emission. The Kanlaon Volcano last erupted in June this year. The volcano, which straddles the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental on the island of Negros, is one of the country's most active volcanoes.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly 10,000 residents have fled their homes near an erupting volcano in the central Philippines, the national disaster agency said on Tuesday, amid warnings of a "hazardous eruption” in the coming weeks.
Phivolcs chief Teresito Bacolcol said the alert warning at Kanlaon had been raised to level 3 indicating the "possibility of a hazardous eruption in the following weeks.”
"We urge residents not to enter the six-kilometre danger zone,” he said.
Bacolcol noted that Monday’s eruption involved magma as well as pyroclastic density currents - fast-moving hazardous mixtures of hot volcanic gas, ash and fragmented rock.
