Hundreds of residents living near Mount Kanlaon in the Philippines were ordered to evacuate Tuesday after the volcano erupted, sending a three-mile tall (five-kilometer) ash column into the sky that caused dozens of flights to be canceled. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said Mount Kanlaon erupted for six minutes on Monday evening, causing a “strong earthquake,” as the agency warned that ash fall and sulphuric odor would affect surrounding villages. Images on social media showed an ash cloud shooting into the starry night sky. Situated on Negros, the fourth most populous island of the archipelago, Mount Kanlaon is one of 24 seismically active volcanoes in the country. The Philippines sits along the Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile (40,000-kilometer) arc of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean that hosts more than half of the world’s volcanoes.

Source: CNN June 04, 2024 11:26 UTC