The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said on Tuesday the eruption of Mount Kanlaon in Negros Island on December 9 could have been deadly due to its speeding pyroclastic density currents (PDC).
The public, therefore, must stay vigilant for a possible more hazardous eruption in the next few weeks, according to Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol.
The December 9 eruption of Mount Kanlaon lasted for three minutes and 55 seconds with pyroclastic materials passing 3.4 kilometers from the crater. PDC is a “fast-moving mixture of hot volcanic gases, ash and rock fragments falling down the volcano’s slope.”
“It runs fastly, typically reaching hundreds of kilometers per hour,” Bacolcol explained. “This pyroclastic density current is dangerous since it is destructive and can burn everything in their path, including the vegetation, buildings and even the people may get burned. Yes, it’s deadly,” he added.
Kanlaon produced a 4,000-meter eruption column and a voluminous emission of plumes drifting to the west and south-southwest directions. A total of 20 volcanic earthquakes was recorded, while the volcano’s edifice was inflated.
Phivolcs on Monday raised the volcano’s Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3, which means there is a possibility of a hazardous eruption in the following weeks.”
“We are advising our residents not to enter the six-kilometer (permanent) danger zone. Yesterday (Monday), it was an explosion, a strong explosion,” Bacolcol noted. “There is a magma involved, unlike in the previous activities of Kanlaon Volcano when there was just steaming with ash.”
