Bulusan Folk Moved; Danger Zone Widened

Posted 00:19am, June 20, 2006 (Inquirer)

ARMY troopers helped evacuate about 450 residents from the restive Mount Bulusan after the volcano spewed ash and gravel in a new explosion over the weekend, officials said Monday.

Scientists said they needed to gather more details and possibly conduct another aerial survey of Bulusan’s summit—the second in a week—before they can assess prospects of a major eruption.

Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said Sunday’s explosion belched ash up to two kilometers into the sky, accompanied by a number of mild tremors. No one was hurt and the volcano was reported quiet on Monday, officials said.

Local disaster relief official Noel Pura said about 350 residents were ferried by military trucks and government vehicles from villages close to the volcano in Juban and Irosin towns, 390 km southeast of Manila, to evacuation centers about 5 km away.

Mayor Edwin Hamor of nearby Casiguran town said another 100 villagers living near the slopes of the volcano moved to a high school, but that most of the men stayed behind to guard their homes and farms.

Authorities estimated more than 20,000 people face a possible evacuation in case of a major eruption, and set out plans for erecting tent cities outside a 6-km radius of the volcano.

Hamor said rains on Sunday night increased the danger of ash and debris falling from the volcano, prompting the evacuation of residents, who did not resist the move.

Bulusan’s recent ash and gas ejections indicated molten rocks called magma may be moving up within the volcano, but it wasn’t clear whether it would lead to a major eruption, Solidum said.

Last eruption
Its last major eruption was in 1994.

The Phivolcs advised local officials to expand to 5 km the radius of the danger zone.

Ernesto Corpuz, chief of volcano monitoring and eruption prediction division, said with the onset of the rainy season, residents face two grave dangers—ashfall and lahar flow.

Corpuz issued the advice as evacuation was ongoing in the towns of Juban and Casiguran.

As the rainy season progresses, the accumulated loose volcanic material, whether old or new, would be eroded, move and mix with rainwater which could form into hazardous lahar and torrential flows.