Towns covered in ash after volcanic eruption in the Philippines

Zachary Rosenthal
·2 min read
2
Towns covered in ash after volcanic eruption in the Philippines

The Philippines' Mount Bulusan erupted for 17 minutes Sunday, sending a plume of ash up at least one kilometer, which is about 0.6 miles, into the atmosphere and covering several towns in volcanic dust, according to reporting from AFP.

The eruption was phreatic, meaning that the explosion was triggered by magma heating up water in the volcano's crater. These eruptions tend to shoot out steam and ash rather than liquid lava.

The ashfall that followed the eruption covered the normally vibrant municipality of Juban. Juban is about a 12-hour drive to the southeast of the Philippine capital of Manila.

Ash and steam are spewed from Mount Bulusan, as seen from Casiguran, Sorsogon province, Philippines Sunday, June 5, 2022. The volcano southeast of the Philippine capital spewed ash and steam about a kilometer into the sky in a brief steam-driven explosion on Sunday, scattering ash in nearby villages and alarming residents, officials said. (AP Photo/Karlyn Dupan Hamor)

Two villages in Juban experienced "zero visibility" due to the heavy ashfall, with first responders being deployed to the area to try and clean the ash and help those in need.

"The evacuation is ongoing there, but our priority is senior citizens and those with asthma," Dennis Despabiladeras, an official with Juban's Disaster Management and Risk Reduction office told AFP. Thankfully, no serious injuries have been reported to authorities following the volcano's eruption.

The ash made color videos and photos from Juban look like they were taken in black and white. The only color that can be seen from above comes from the brightly colored cars driving through local towns.

Authorities in the Philippines are warning of further eruptions from the historically active Mount Bulsan, raising the alert level to one on the country's five-level system, indicating "low-level unrest."

Even residents were barred from entering a roughly 2.5-mile radius around the volcano "due to the increased possibilities of sudden and hazardous phreatic eruptions," according to AFP.

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