Philippine volcano Bulusan erupts, spewing ash plume

Village covered by volcanic ash from the eruption of the Bulusan volcano in the city of Juban

Village covered by volcanic ash from the Bulusan volcano eruption in Juban city

The phreatic eruption of steam, water, ash and stones lasted about 17 minutes this Sunday.

The Bulusan volcano, one of the most active in the Philippines, erupted this Sunday and ejected a kilometer-high column of steam, ash and stones that forced authorities to raise the alert to level one out of five in the surrounding area, according to Phivolcs, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology.

The body in charge of controlling volcanic activity in the country pointed out that the volcano, located to the east of the island of Luzon, recorded a phreatic eruption of steam, water, ash and stones of about 17 minutes at 10:37 local time (8:37 pm Colombia time) that caused a column of steam and ashes a kilometer high.

The formed cloud moved to the west and covered the towns of Juban and Casiguran, in the province of Sorsogon, with ashes.

Phivolcs indicated on his social networks that 77 volcanic earthquakes were recorded in the 24 hours prior to the eruption and explained that since April he has observed areas to the southeast of the volcano that “swelled” suddenly, a possible indicator of activity under the mountain.

Bulusan, located in Sorsogon province, about 300 kilometers southeast of Manila, is 1,565 meters high and has been active 15 times since 1886. The largest eruption of a Philippine volcano in history was that of Pinatubo in June 1991, which left about 850 dead. and more than a million victims.

The Philippine archipelago sits on an area of intense seismic activity inscribed within the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, and has 23 active volcanoes.

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