Kanlaon rocks with moderately explosive eruption
A moderately explosive eruption occurred at the summit crater of Mt. Kanlaon at 2:55 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13.| FILE PHOTO: Task Force Kanlaon via Carla P. Gomez, Philippine Daily Inquirer
BACOLOD CITY – A moderately explosive eruption occurred at the summit crater of Mt. Kanlaon at 2:55 a.m. on Tuesday.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the eruption lasted five minutes based on seismic and infrasound data.
The eruption generated a voluminous greyish plume that rose four kilometers above the vent before drifting to the general west.
Audible rumbling sounds of the eruption were reported in Barangay Pula, Canlaon City, Negros Oriental and La Castellana, Negros Occidental.
Incandescent pyroclastic density currents or PDCs descended the southern slopes within approximately two kilometers of the crater based on visual and thermal camera monitoring.
Large ballistic fragments were also observed to have been thrown around the crater within a few hundred meters and caused burning of vegetation near the volcano summit.
Thin ashfall has been reported in the following localities of Negros Occidental: La Carlota City – Barangays Yubo and Ara-al; Bago City – Barangays Ilijan and Binubuhan, and; La Castellana – Barangays Biak-na-Bato, Sag-ang, and Mansalanao.
Alert Level 3 (magmatic unrest) prevails over Mt. Kanlaon, which means that the volcano is in a state of magmatic unrest with currently increased chances of short-lived, moderately explosive eruptions that could generate life-threatening volcanic hazards./coa/abc
