1 month ago
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THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that the volcanic emission coming from the Kanlaon Volcano, particularly sulfur diox-ide, has started to drop, indicating an imminent explosion may be in the offing.
In an interview aired at the Civil Defense in Action social media page of the Office of Civil Defense, Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of the Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division (VMEPD) of Phivolcs, said that they had noticed an abrupt decrease in the sulfur dioxide being emitted by the volcano.
She was quoted in the interview as saying that from an average of 5,000 tons per day, it went down to 2,000 to 3000 tons per day.
"When it (sulfur dioxide) drops; there's a dramatic decline, this is an indication that we need to raise the alert level to 4," said Bornas.
"When the SO2 falls dramatically from higher than average .... in fact the decline is more than twice the average since June 3, and this means a large batch of magma is coming up, and when this is blocked, it could result in big explosion," explained Bornas, recalling previous volcanic histories.
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Describing Kanlaon as a "diesel" or having a slow process, Bornas said such occurrence is "natural."
"This is a natural behavior of a volcano. We have the most active volcano here like Mayon Volcano, Taal Volcano, and we have volcanoes that have long been dormant, and once these (dormant) volcanoes wake up, their period of unrest is taking time," Bornas explained further.
Eruptive emissions
Meanwhile, Bornas also told the Civil Defense in Action that they are terming the ash plume emissions as an "eruption."
"Technically, an ash emission is an eruption as eruption is defined as ejection of volcanic materials from crater or vent, " she added.
100,000 affected residents
Earlier, Office of Civil Defense Administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno said that they are preparing for a scenario where 100,000 residents will be affected by the Kanlaon eruption or if Alert Level 4 is raised.
Presently, the OCD is coordinating with various agencies for the tent cities as evacuation centers. They are also coordinating for the possible use of the Yolanda houses.
