Volcano in Philippines Spews Ash Over a Mile into the Sky
Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the Southeast Asian nation, has had several eruptions in the past century -- the most recent of which happened last month.
A level three alert -- out of a scale of five -- put in place during an eruption in December remained unchanged Tuesday, as officials highlighted an existing six-kilometer (four-mile) evacuation radius.
"A moderately explosive eruption occurred at the summit crater of Kanlaon Volcano at 2:55 am today (1855 GMT Monday)," the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement, adding that it lasted five minutes.
"The eruption generated a greyish voluminous plume that rose approximately 3 kilometers above the vent before drifting to the general west," it said.
"Large ballistic fragments were also observed to have been thrown around the crater within a few hundred meters and caused burning of vegetation near the volcano summit."
Stating the continued level three alert, the agency warned there were "increased chances of short-lived moderately explosive eruptions that could generate life-threatening volcanic hazards."
In August 1996, Kanlaon Volcano erupted, sending a spray of heated rocks that killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time.
The Philippines is on the seismically active region of the Pacific known as the "Ring of Fire," where more than half the world's volcanoes are located.
The most powerful volcanic explosion in the Philippines in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
03-08-2025
- Al Arabiya
Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years
A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia's eastern Kamchatka region, the nation's emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region. Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), Kamchatka's Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram. 'The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,' the ministry said. The volcano has been assigned an 'orange' aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted. It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region -- the highest active in Europe and Asia -- erupted on Wednesday. Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program. Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.
Arab News
03-08-2025
- Arab News
Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years
MOSCOW: A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia's eastern Kamchatka region, the nation's emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region. Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), Kamchatka's Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram. 'The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,' the ministry said. The volcano has been assigned an 'orange' aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted. It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region — the highest active in Europe and Asia — erupted on Wednesday. Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program. Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.
Arab News
02-08-2025
- Arab News
Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupts again, spews giant ash plumes
JAKARTA: Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day, sending a column of volcanic materials and ash up to 18 kilometers into the sky early Saturday and blanketing villages with debris. No casualties were immediately reported. Another eruption Friday evening had sent clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers high and had lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning. The two eruptions happened in a span of less than five hours. Indonesia's Geology Agency recorded an avalanche of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava traveling up to 5 kilometers down the slopes of the mountain. Drone observations showed deep movement of magma, setting off tremors that registered on seismic monitors. Volcanic material, including hot thumb-sized gravel, was thrown up to 8 kilometers from the crater, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, the agency said. It asked residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano. Saturday's eruption was one of Indonesia's largest since 2010 when Mount Merapi, the country's most volatile volcano, erupted on the densely populated island of Java. That eruption killed more than 350 people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate. It also came less than a month after a major eruption on July 7 forced the delay or cancelation of dozens of flights at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport, and covered roads and rice fields with thick, gray mud and rocks. Lewotobi Laki Laki, a 1,584-meter volcano on the remote island of Flores, has been at the highest alert level since it erupted on June 18, and an exclusion zone has been doubled to a 7-kilometer radius as eruptions became more frequent. The Indonesian government has permanently relocated thousands of residents after a series of eruptions there killed nine people and destroyed thousands of homes in November. Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the 'Ring of Fire,' a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
