Mt. Bulusan spews 2.5-km ash column in 4th eruption this week

Mt. Bulusan belched out more than 500 meter high column of ash around 3:35 p.m. Sunday. Photo from OCD 5

GUBAT, Sorsogon – Local disaster risk reduction and management offices (DRRMO) in different towns said Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon belched out a 2.5 kilometer high ash column Sunday afternoon in its fourth phreatic (steam-driven) eruption this week.

Renard Fullon Garados, Bulusan Municipal Risk Reduction and Management officer, said the ash column came out of the volcano’s crater and southeast vent at around 3:31 p.m.

The ash eruption, which was described as dirty white and grayish, lasted for 15 minutes, Garados said.

“No affected barangays yet as of the moment,” Garados said, adding that the wind direction was carrying the ash southward.

Garados also said they are still waiting for word from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) regarding this event.

In Irosin town, the MDRRMC there reported that very small amount of ash was recorded in barangay (village) Cogon.

The MDRRMC in Juban town also claimed some villages were affected by ashfalls but a list of affected barangays there is still not available as of press time.

Phivolcs recorded Mt. Bulusan’s three phreatic eruptions last Oct. 17, 19 and 21 which brought minimal ashfalls in villages in the towns of Bulusan, Irosin and Casiguran. JE/rga

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