The Philippines’ Taal volcano has
begun spewing lava, as authorities warn that a “hazardous eruption”
is possible “within hours or days”.
In the early hours of January 13 weak
lava began flowing out of the volcano – located some 45 miles south of the
capital Manila.
It comes after Taal emitted a huge
plume of ash, triggering the mass evacuation of 8,000 people from the area.
Taal is the Philippines’ second most
active volcano.
Situated on an island in the middle
of a lake, Taal is one of the world’s smallest volcanoes and has recorded at
least 34 eruptions in the past 450 years.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a
statement: “Taal volcano entered a
period of intense unrest… that progressed into magmatic eruption at 02:49 to
04:28… this is characterized by weak lava fountaining accompanied by thunder
and flashes of lightning.”
However, Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said that signs of a hazardous
eruption, including “flows of ashes, rocks, gas at speeds of more than 60
kph horizontally” had not yet occurred, according to CNN Philippines.
Phivolcs has now raised the alert level from 3 to 4, out of a maximum of 5.
Authorities have also warned of a possible “volcanic tsunami”,
which can be trigged by falling debris after an eruption, pushing the water and
generating waves.
On January 12, the volcano emitted a giant plume of ash, with rumbling
sounds and tremors also reported.
According to Phivolcs, a total of 75 earthquakes have occurred in the Taal
region, with 32 of these earthquakes ranking 2 and higher on the earthquake
intensity scale.
The Official United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said more than 450,000 people are estimated to live within the
10 miles danger zone of the Taal volcano.
The Civil Aviation Authority announced on January 13 that it had resumed
“partial operations” as of 10:00 local time for flights departing the
airport and 12:00 for flights arriving.
The Philippine stock exchange also announced it would halt all trading on
January 13.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s office has also ordered the suspension of government work in Manila and of all schools across all levels in the capital.
A deadly tsunami triggered by Anak
Krakatau volcano’s eruption struck Indonesia on December 22, at 21:30 local
time, during a local holiday.
Giant waves crashed into coastal
towns on the islands of Sumatra and Java, killing at least 281 people and
injuring 1,016.
Sea water did not recede as it would
with an earthquake tsunami and experts say that even if there had been warning
buoys near the volcano, there would have been minimal alert time.
On December 23, coastal residents
near Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano have been warned to keep away from
beaches amid fears it could trigger a new tsunami.
It is thought that volcanic activity
set off undersea landslides which in turn generated the killer waves.
Anak Krakatau erupted again on
December 23, spewing ash and smoke.
Video shot from a charter plane
captured the magnitude of the volcanic event in the Sunda Strait, between
Sumatra and Java.
Rescue efforts are being hampered by
blocked roads but heavy lifting equipment is being transported to badly hit
areas to help search for victims.
The spokesman for the National
Disaster Management Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told a news conference that
another tsunami is a possibility because of the continued volcanic eruptions of
Anak Krakatau.
He said: “Recommendations from [the] Meteorology, Climatology and
Geophysical Agency are that people should not carry out activities on the beach
and stay away from the coast for a while.”
Anak Krakatau, which emerged in 1927
from the caldera that was formed during the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, has
seen increased activity in recent months with people asked to avoid the area
around its crater.
On December, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho put
out a series of tweets explaining why there was no early warning for this
tsunami. He said that Indonesia’s early warning system is set up to monitor
earthquakes but not undersea landslides and volcanic eruptions, which can also
generate deadly waves.
With 13% of the world’s volcanoes in
Indonesia alone, it was crucial for the country to develop such system.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho confirmed there was no tsunami advance warning system the night of the disaster, adding that because of lack of funds, vandalism to the buoys and technical faults there had been no operational tsunami warning system since 2012.
Japan’s Sakurajima volcano – one of the country’s most active volcanoes – is due for a major eruption within the next 30 years, say scientists who have studied a build-up of magma there.
The Sakurajima volcano on Kyushu Island poses a “growing threat”, researchers at the University of Bristol say.
The volcano, located 30 miles from the Sendai nuclear plant, is also close to Kagoshima, a city of 600,000.
Sakurajima’s last deadly eruption was in 1914, when 58 people died.
Image source Wikipedia
The Japanese archipelago, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of fire”, has more than 100 volcanoes.
The Sakurajima volcano regularly spews ash and there are many small explosions there each year, with the latest eruption being in February.
The volcano is closely monitored by Japanese authorities and one of two volcanoes at Level 3 out of 5 levels in Japan’s volcanic warning system, which means that people are warned not to approach the volcano.
“The 1914 eruption measured about 1.5km cubed in volume,” said the study’s lead author Dr James Hickey, who has now joined the University of Exeter’s Camborne School of Mines.
“From our data we think it would take around 130 years for the volcano to store the same amount of magma for another eruption of a similar size- meaning we are around 25 years away.”
A report on the activity of the volcano was published on September 13 and teams from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre took part.
Their research showed that 14 million cubic meters of magma is accumulating each year, enough to fill London’s Wembley Stadium 3.5 times over.
Researchers added that the rate at which the magma is accumulating is faster than it can be expelled in its regular smaller eruptions, which led them to infer that a major eruption is likely in the next 30 years.
They made these assessments based on new ways of studying and modeling the volcano’s magma reservoir. Scientists say they hope these findings can help authorities plan for major eruptions.
New evacuation plans have already been prepared, according to an associate professor at Kyoto University.
“It is already passed by 100 years since the 1914 eruption, less than 30 years is left until a next expected big eruption,” said Dr. Haruhisa Nakamichi, Associate Professor at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University.
“Kagoshima city office has prepared a new evacuation plan from Sakurajima.”
Turrialba volcano has erupted in central Costa Rica, spewing smoke and ash up to 9,840ft into the air.
Hundreds of people have been hospitalized, complaining of breathing difficulties and skin problems.
Some schools were shut and some flights into the country cancelled or diverted.
People in the capital San Jose, about 30 miles west of the Turrialba volcano, said layers of ash had coated buildings and cars and there was a fierce smell of sulphur.
Costa Rica’s National Emergencies Commission has advised people to wear masks and tight clothing to protect their lungs and skin.
Volcanologist Gino Gonzalez told reporters: “It seems to me to be the strongest [Turrialba] eruption in the past six years.”
Costa Rica is home to dozens of volcanoes, but most of them are dormant.
Chile’s Calbuco volcano has erupted for the first time in 42 years.
The volcano erupted twice in the space of a few hours.
Chile’s Onemi emergency office declared a red alert following the sudden eruption at around 18.00 local time, which occurred about 625 miles south of Santiago, the capital, near the tourist towns of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt.
Footage from the area shows a huge column of lava and ash being sent several miles into the air.
More than 4,000 people have been evacuated within a 12 mile radius.
The Calbuco volcano is one of the most active in Chile, but its eruption took officials in the area by surprise.
Alejandro Verges, an emergency director for the region, said Calbuco had not been under any special form of observation.
The inhabitants of the nearby town of Ensenada – along with residents from two other smaller communities – have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
Schools in the area have been shut and some flights cancelled.
The nearby city of Puerto Montt – a gateway to the popular Patagonia region – has already been blanketed in a cloud of ash.
TV footage showed traffic jams in the city and long queues at petrol stations. The nearby town of Puerto Varas was also under a state of alert.
Mayor Gervoy Paredes said residents were “very, very frightened”.
Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo called on people affected to “remain calm and stay informed”.
Neighboring Argentina has also put emergency measures in place for the city of Bariloche – about 65 miles from Calbuco – where ash clouds are expected.
Residents there have been warned to stay indoors.
Chile has the second largest chain of volcanoes in the world after Indonesia, with about 500 that are potentially active.
Japanese rescue teams have recovered thirty bodies from the peak of Mount Ontake, after Saturday’s sudden volcanic eruption.
The hikers were not breathing and their hearts had stopped, reports said. Final confirmation of death in Japan always comes via a medical examination.
About 250 people were trapped on the slopes, but most have got down safely.
The volcano, about 125 miles west of Tokyo, erupted suddenly on September 27, spewing ash and rocks.
Japanese rescue teams have recovered thirty bodies from the peak of Mount Ontake, after Saturday’s sudden volcanic eruption (photo Reuters)
Ordinarily it is a popular place to see autumn foliage.
As the search effort intensified earlier on September 28, officials said they were searching for 30 feared missing or buried by ash.
Military helicopters plucked seven people off the mountainside earlier on Sunday, the Associated Press reports, and workers on foot were also helping others make their way down.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active nations but there have been no fatalities from volcanic eruptions since 1991, when 43 people died at Mount Unzen in the south-west.
It’s not clear why there was no warning of Saturday’s eruption.
Japan monitors its volcanoes closely and any that show signs of activity are immediately closed to hikers – but this time that did not happen.
Japan’s Mount Ontake volcano erupted on September 27, injuring at least eight hikers and leaving 250 others stranded near the peak.
Witnesses heard a “thunder-like” boom before the eruption at the 3,067m (10,120ft) peak, situated between Nagano and Gifu prefectures.
PM Shinzo Abe says the army will help rescue some 150 climbers sheltering in lodges near the summit.
Officials have warned residents within a 4km radius of the risk of debris.
Mount Ontake last erupted in 2007.
Mount Ontake volcano eruption injured at least eight hikers and left 250 others stranded near the peak
Some climbers have managed to descend.
Two of those injured have fractured bones caused by flying rocks, NHK said.
Three people are missing, believed buried under volcanic ash, it said. A fourth was rescued but remains unconscious, the broadcaster added, citing police.
Kiso Prefectural Hospital, near the mountain, said it had dispatched a medical emergency team.
“We expect a lot of injured people so we are now getting ready for their arrival,” said an official at the hospital.
Iceland has raised its aviation warning level near the Bardarbunga volcano to red after an eruption began overnight.
Scientists said a fissure eruption 0.6 miles long started in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier.
Civil protection officials said Icelandic Air Traffic Control had closed the airspace above the eruption up to a height of 5,000ft.
The volcano has been hit by several recent tremors.
The fissure eruption took place between Dyngjujokull Glacier and the Askja caldera, a statement from the Department of Civil Protection said.
Iceland has raised its aviation warning level near the Bardarbunga volcano to red after an eruption began overnight
The area is part of the Bardabunga system.
“Scientists who have been at work close to the eruption monitor the event at a safe distance,” the statement added.
“The Icelandic Met Office has raised the aviation colour code over the eruption site to red.”
It added that no volcanic ash had so far been detected but a coast guard aircraft was due to take off later to survey the site.
Until now the Icelandic Met Office has kept its aviation warning level – indicating the potential threat of volcanic activity to air travel – at orange, its second-highest.
On August, scientists said they were examining several “cauldrons” found near Bardarbunga volcano that could potentially be a sign of an eruption.
The cauldrons, depressions in the volcano’s surface, each between 49 ft deep and 0.6 miles wide, were seen during a flight on August 27.
Bardarbunga is part of a large volcano system hidden beneath the 1,600ft-thick Vatnajokull ice cap in central Iceland.
Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, producing ash that disrupted air travel across Europe.
Argentina and Chile have ordered the evacuation of some 3,000 people living near the Copahue volcano in the south of their shared border.
The authorities in both countries issued a red alert – the highest possible – saying the Chilean volcano could erupt imminently.
The 2,965 m (nearly 10,000ft) volcano – which sits in the Andes cordillera – has so far only spewed gas.
Thousands of minor earth tremors have been registered in the area.
“This red alert has been issued after monitoring the activity of the volcano and seeing that it has increased seismic activity,” Chilean Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said in a news conference.
“There is a risk that it can start erupting.”
According to Chile’s Emergency Office, the evacuation will affect some 460 families living within a 25km (15 miles) radius of Copahue.
Argentina and Chile have ordered the evacuation of some 3,000 people living near the Copahue volcano
It said it could last about 48 hours, but could be delayed because of heavy rains in the region.
In Argentina, the authorities had first declared a “yellow alert,” but later revised it to the highest level.
They have now ordered the evacuation of about 600 people from the town of Caviahue to the neighboring city of Loncopue.
Last December, Chile also issued a red alert after Copahue – one of the most active volcanoes in the region – began spewing ash and gas, with smoke raising nearly 1.5km in the sky.
Nearby residents were temporarily evacuated, and planes flying over the southern Andes warned to avoid the area.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled last year due to the eruption of another volcano in southern Chile.
The Puyehue eruption caused huge economic damage not only to property in the area but also to tourism in Bariloche and other resorts.
Mayon volcano has erupted in the Philippines, killing four German climbers and their guide.
Mount Mayon at 206 miles south-east of the capital Manila sent a cloud of ash and rocks into the sky early on Tuesday.
The ash blast caught a group climbing the mountain, which is famous for its near-perfect cone.
At least seven other climbers were hurt in the eruption, which lasted for just over a minute.
Mount Mayon at 206 miles south-east of the capital Manila sent a cloud of ash and rocks into the sky early on Tuesday
“Five killed and seven are injured, that is the latest report,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Eduardo del Rosario said.
Four of those killed were German nationals and the fifth was their Filipino guide, the NDRRMC said later in a statement.
A guide on the mountain told a local television station by telephone that those who died were hit by the rocks that rained down on them after the ash blast.
Twenty people were approaching the summit of the mountain when the eruption occurred.
In an advisory, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology called the eruption a “small phreatic event” that lasted about 73 seconds and sent ash 500m into the air. No intensification of volcanic activity was observed, it said, and the alert level would not be raised.
It said small steam and ash ejections could occur with little or no warning and advised against entry to the 4-mile radius Permanent Danger Zone around the volcano.
Chief state seismologist Renato Solidum described the eruption as a “stream driven explosion”, a “normal process” in any volcano. There was no need for local residents around the mountain to evacuate, he said.
Mt Mayon has erupted at least 48 times since records began. The most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and devastated several towns.
The most recent eruption was in late 2009, when tens of thousands of local residents were forced to evacuate as the volcano rumbled back to life.
The authorities in Argentina and Chile have issued an alert over increased activity at the Copahue volcano, which has begun spewing smoke and gas.
Many residents have already left the area as a precaution.
An orange volcano alert, the second highest, has been issued in both countries.
The 3,000 m (10,000 ft) volcano is in Argentina’s south-western Neuquen province, which borders the Biobio region of Chile.
The authorities in Argentina and Chile have issued an alert over increased activity at the Copahue volcano, which has begun spewing smoke and gas
Ash has been raining down on the nearby villages of Copahue, Caviahue and Zapala.
Residents who have stayed behind have been told to monitor the situation and be prepared to evacuate.
Planes flying over the southern Andes have also been warned.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled last year due to the eruption of Puyehue volcano, in Chile.
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