Photos: Volcanic mud hits village,see where it happen
In this handout photo taken on June 3, 2024 by Irish Casag and released on June 4, shows Mount Kanlaon volcano spewing ash during an eruption. Photo by Irish Casag / AFP
Heavy rain washed volcanic mud and debris through a village in the central Philippines on Wednesday, two days after a nearby volcano erupted.
Mount Kanlaon on Negros island exploded Monday evening, sending a plume of ash, rocks and gases five kilometres (three miles) into the sky.
Images posted on Facebook and verified by AFP on Wednesday show a torrent of grey mud and rocks, known as cold lava flow, or lahar, roaring down a watercourse in Biaknabato village in Negros Occidental province.
Residents can be seen walking barefoot through thick sludge covering a road in the village, located a few kilometres from the volcano.
“The lahar on the streets is knee-deep,” Stills Fernandez of the municipal disaster agency told AFP.
Relief…
A bulldozer and three dump trucks were deployed to remove the lahar after it stopped flowing but Fernandez said it “might take time” to clear.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Lahars are mammoth flows of volcanic debris deposited on a volcano’s slopes and unleashed by heavy rain or snow melt. They can bury villages.
“We are still determining the extent and volume of the lahar,” said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Bacolcol warned the public that lahar contained volcanic ash and was “dangerous”.
Leah Martinez, 37, filmed the stream of volcanic debris flowing down a rocky watercourse near her village of Masulog, which is also close to the volcano.
“Before the lahar flow, there was a thunder-like sound again,” Martinez told AFP.
“I rushed outside. It was so loud. I thought the volcano had erupted again,” she said.
“We couldn’t see anything at first, then there were large stones, ashes and water flowing down the river.”
Other villages
It was not clear if other villages were affected or how many houses were damaged.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes around Mount Kanlaon due to falling ash, gases and the threat of lahars.
The state volcanology agency has raised the alert level for the volcano from one to two on a zero-to-five scale, warning more explosive eruptions were possible.
The Philippines is located in the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” that contains more than half the world’s volcanoes.
Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation.
Below are more photos from the Philippine village by AFP:
Residents wading through lahar from the eruption of Mount Kanlaon volcano along a road in Biaknabato village in La Castellana municipality, Negros Occidental province.
A resident wading through lahar from the eruption of Mount Kanlaon volcano along a road in Biaknabato village in La Castellana municipality, Negros Occidental province.
Residents looking on as lahar from the eruption of Mount Kanlaon volcano flows down a road and watercourse (background) in Biaknabato village in La Castellana municipality, Negros Occidental province.
An elderly evacuee eats a meal while others rest inside an evacuation center set up at a school in a village in Canlaon, Negros Occidental province, central Philippines on June 4.
Evacuees rest inside an evacuation center set up at a school in a village in Canlaon, Negros Occidental province, central Philippines on June 4.
