On Monday, during an eruption lasting less than four minutes, the volcano spewed out a hot cloud of smoke, ash and stones. Following the recommendation of volcanologists, the authorities had people evacuated from the villages under its western and southern slopes. 47 thousand people had to leave the town of La Castellana to a safe distance from the volcano.
“It sounded like a cannon,” the mayor of the city, Jose Chubasco Cardenas, told the AP agency. “Before, there were quiet eruptions, but this one was very loud,” he added.
The Kanlaon volcano is located in the province of Negros Occidental in the central part of the Asian archipelago and is one of two dozen active volcanoes in the Philippines. Volcanic ash reached an area 200 kilometers away in the province of Antique. Airlines canceled six domestic and one international flight, and diverted several others further away from the affected area.
According to agencies, Kanlaon is one of the most active Philippine volcanoes. Since 1866, its eruption has been recorded more than forty times, AFP wrote.
The Philippines is located in the so-called ring of fire, where tectonic plates meet, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are therefore quite frequent in the area. The explosion of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991 killed hundreds of people in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the 20th century.
PHOTO: A volcano erupts again in Iceland. For the seventh time in the last year
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