Kanlaon erupts anew; ashfall hits 121 barangays

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February 28, 2026 | 12:00am

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The moderately explosive eruption that occurred at Kanlaon Volcano on Thursday night generated a massive volume of ash, blanketing 121 barangays in Negros Occidental.

The eruption was followed by two ash emission events including one that lasted more than an hour yesterday, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Phivolcs said the eruption prompted 23 families in the villages of Ara-al and Yubo in La Carlota City as well as in Camandag, Robles and Sag-ang in La Castellana to seek shelter in evacuation centers.

Aside from ashfall, sulfur stench engulfed the villages for several hours.

Classes were suspended yesterday in Binalbagan, Candoni, Himamaylan, Hinigaran, Ilog, Isabela, Kabankalan, La Carlota, La Castellana, Moises Padilla, Murcia and Pontevedra in Negros Occidental as well as Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.

The ash emission resumed yesterday from 9:43 a.m. to 10:53 a.m., Phivolcs said.

The eruption affected 15 local government units (LGUs) including Bago, Candoni, Cauayan, Hinobaan, San Carlos and Sipalay in Negros Occidental.

Mari-Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory in La Carlota City, said that volcanic parameters and other indicators are being closely monitored to determine if an alert level adjustment is needed.

The provincial disaster risk reduction and management office urged LGUs located within a six-kilometer radius of Kanlaon to prepare for evacuation in case the volcanic unrest escalates.

On Feb. 19 and 26, similar moderately explosive eruptions occurred in Kanlaon, but these did not prompt state volcanologists  to raise the alert status of the volcano, which has been under Alert Level 2 since July 29, 2025.

The eruption on Thursday produced incandescent ballistic fragments that rose 1.5 kilometers from the crater, forming a glowing collar on Kanlaon’s summit, local disaster officials said.

Ballistic fragments and pyroclastic density currents or uson triggered fires on the upper southern and southeastern margins of the forest canopy on the slopes of Kanlaon.

Pyroclastic flows detected at Mayon Volcano

Meanwhile, state volcanologists detected pyroclastic density currents at Mayon Volcano in Albay in the past two days.

The uson events, which occurred at 12:40 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. yesterday, lasted a minute each and generated runouts of approximately 300 meters from a lava front collapse southeast of the Bonga Gully.

On Thursday, state volcanologists observed a similar event lasting seven minutes and settled 2.5 kilometers away from the summit crater.

The pyroclastic flow descended the Mi-isi Gully and generated a grayish to brownish ash cloud that drifted southwest.

Alert Level 3 or “increased tendency toward hazardous eruption” has been hoisted over Mayon since Jan. 6.