Around 54,000 people will be covered by the evacuation efforts, as authorities prepare for ‘worst-case scenario’.
Mount Kanlaon in central Philippines has erupted, sending a huge ash column into the sky and startling residents as the government ordered the evacuation of thousands of those living in surrounding towns and villages.
“An explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of Kanlaon Volcano at 3:03 pm (0703 GMT) today,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in a statement on Monday.
“All local government units are advised to evacuate the 6km (4 mile) radius from the summit of the volcano and must be prepared for additional evacuation if activity warrants,” it added.
PHIVOLCS later warned there are indications that Mount Kanlaon could erupt further in the coming days.
Images posted on social media following the eruption showed several areas near the volcano were blanketed in thick volcanic ash.
Rising more than 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) above sea level on the central island of Negros, Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines.
The Office of Civil Defense estimated that 54,000 people or 12,000 families would be covered by the evacuation efforts. It is unclear how long the evacuation process would take.
“Authorities are preparing for the worst-case scenario of raising the alert level … which would necessitate further evacuation and safety measures,” the civil defence office said in a statement.
“Evacuations are ongoing” in four upland villages of La Castellana town, on the volcano’s southwest slope, municipal police officer Staff Sergeant Ronel Arevalo told the AFP news agency.
Governor Eugenio Lacson of Negros Occidental Province told ABS-CBN News that he is ready to declare a state of calamity should the situation worsen.
La Castellana resident Dianne Paula Abendan, 24, used her mobile phone to take a video clip of a giant cauliflower-shaped grey mass of smoke billowing above the crater.
“These past few days we’ve seen black smoke coming out of [the] volcano. We were expecting that it would erupt anytime this week,” she told AFP by phone.
Abendan said people rushed home to await evacuation orders, but added that the volcanic activity appeared to ease slightly about an hour later.
In September, hundreds of nearby residents were evacuated after the volcano spurted thousands of tonnes of harmful gases in a single day.
The seismology office said Kanlaon has erupted more than 40 times since 1866.
In 1996, three hikers were killed due to ash ejection from the volcano.
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