June 2016 – PHILIPPINES – A
rumbling volcano in the central Philippines has shot a huge column of
ash into the sky, prompting the official aviation agency to warn
aircraft to stay away. Mount Kanloan has launched a plume of
whitish-grey ash 1.5 meters into the air. The volcano last erupted in
2006. Philippine authorities have banned hikers from its slopes and
warned aircraft to stay away. People are permanently barred from living
within a four-kilometer ‘danger zone’ around the volcano
Mount Kanlaon, located in the central
island of Negros, launched a plume of whitish-grey ash about 1.5
kilometers into the air, Kenn John Veracruz, of the official Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said. The civil aviation office
issued an advisory, saying: “Flights operating in the vicinity of the
volcano are advised to avoid flying close to the summit as airborne ash
from a sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft.” The volcano,
located about 510 kilometers south of Manila, has been more active than
usual since November, prompting the Government to ban hikers from its
slopes.
Mr. Veracruz said that so far the
authorities had not detected any lava rising inside the
2.47-kilometre-high volcano, but they were checking how far the ash was
being scattered by the wind and whether it could affect nearby
communities. “It has been raining in recent days so there was likely
water that built up inside the volcano and since the crater is hot, it
built up the steam pressure [causing the eruption of ash],” Mr.
Veracruz, a member of the institute’s volcano monitoring division, told
AFP.
He added that it was possible the
volcano could experience another ash eruption. Authorities have been
placed on alert. The civil defense office said they had not received any
reports of damage or people affected from the ash-fall but that
authorities were on alert. Kanlaon has had several eruptions, usually of
ash, in the past century, leading the Government to impose a permanent
four-kilometer “danger zone” around the volcano where people are barred
from living. In August, 1996, the volcano abruptly erupted, sending a
spray of heated rocks that killed three hikers who were near the summit
at the time.
The Philippines is located in the
seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and has over 20 active
volcanoes. Earlier this month, Mount Bulusan in the rural eastern
province of Sorsogon fired a spectacular column of ash and steam into
the air. –ABC.net
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento