35,000 people evacuated from volcanic eruption

Countdown! 35,000 people evacuated as Philippine province declared a state of calamity with a Mayon volcano eruption now imminent

the Big Wobble,

26 November, 2014

A central Philippine province declared a state of calamity on Tuesday as a volcano spewed lava that reached the limits of a six-km radius no-go zone and spread ash on nearby farming villages.

Mount Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines, continued to erupt on Tuesday forcing nearly 35,000 people to evacuate.

While the recent eruptions have been relatively weak, scientists warn that they could turn explosive at any time, according to the Associated Press.

A thick ash cloud around the volcano has made monitoring its eruptions difficult and also caused ash to settle on nearby villages.

Lava flows on Tuesday also forced police to set up checkpoints to keep tourists a safe distance from the volcano.

While currently at a level three warning, an upgrade to level four would result in forced evacuations across a larger impact area.

In an attempt to keep local villagers from returning to their homes to check on farm animals, officials have planned to set up evacuation areas for animals, including water buffaloes, cows, pigs and poultry, according to Office of Civil Defense regional director Claudio Yucot.

Despite being a popular tourist attraction, Mount Mayon has erupted around 50 times in the past 500 years.

The 2,460-metre (8,070-foot) Mayon, has a long history of deadly eruptions.

An eruption in 1814 killed 1,200 people and buried an entire town in a volcanic mudflow.

A larger scale eruption could result in more widespread evacuations and travel disruption as the volcano sits less than 16 km (10 miles) from Legazpi City, the capital of Albay province.

To exaggerate the problem continuous heavy rains recently could lead to volcanic mudflows (lahar flows).

Daily showers and localized downpours are expected across the area through at least Thursday.

Any downpours will heighten the risk of flooding and mudflows around the volcano.

Tsunami warning issued for eruption of volcano on Kadovar Island Papua New Guinea as explosion will trigger landslides into the sea

Earthwindmap showing Sulfur Dioxide surface mass

the Big Wobble,

16 January, 2018

People in Papua New Guinea are being warned that an eruption of a volcano in the South Pacific nation could also cause a local tsunami.

The volcano on Kadovar Island has been erupting for more than a week, forcing 700 people to leave that island and 3,000 to be evacuated from nearby Biem Island.

Photo therussophile.org

Flights in the area have been cancelled due to the risk posed by ash plumes and ships were warned to stay away from the island. 

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill warned northern coastal communities to be alert for possible tsunamis. Kadovar is offshore to the north of New Guinea, the larger island that includes Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby.

Chris Firth, a volcano expert from the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at Australia's Macquarie University, said the steepness of the volcano meant an eruption may trigger landslides into the sea, which could create a tsunami.

"Given the volcano's remoteness and dormancy, it has not been well studied in the past and does not have the monitoring infrastructure that is in place on other, more regularly active volcanoes,'' Firth said in a statement.

"This makes it very hard to predict what will happen during the course of the current eruption.

'' Papua New Guinea sits on the "Ring of Fire,'' a line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific that has frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.