Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Mount Bulusan explodes ash, alarming villagers, officials say (7:00 p.m.)
MANILA -- A restive Philippine volcano exploded ash Tuesday after about four months of relative calm, alarming nearby villagers, officials said.
Mount Bulusan blasted a thick column of ash three kilometers into the sky shortly before nightfall, sending ash southeastward toward Irosin town, officials said.
The explosion may have been caused by contact of rainwater with hot rocks in Bulusan's crater but volcanologists would conduct further studies to check if the volcano was gearing for a violent eruption, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director Renato Solidum said.
The 1,560-meter volcano, located in Sorsogon province about 390 kilometers southeast of Manila, has been showing signs of unrest since coming back to life in March. It has not belched ash since June and the ash explosion alarmed several villagers in the nearby farming town of Casiguran, officials said.
Casiguran Mayor Edwin Hamor was being interviewed by dzBB radio during the ash explosion when he asked to hang up to attend to jittery villagers. "There goes another explosion," villagers near him were overheard as saying.
Bulusan is one of 22 active volcanos in the Philippines, which lies on the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. |
