LAHAR FLOW This handout photo from the Office of the Protected Area Superintendent of Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park shows lahar overrunning a village of La Castellana in Negros Occidental. —Agence France-Presse
MANILA, Philippines — Tremors, steam and seismic activities in Taal Volcano in Batangas province and Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental continue to affect residents in surrounding areas, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Alert Level 1 will remain over Taal Volcano although Phivolcs recorded degassing events this weekend.
Mariton Bornas, chief of Phivolcs’ Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Saturday, that a phreatic (steam-driven) eruption recorded between midnight and midday of Saturday was considered “just small.”
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Phivolcs experienced difficulties monitoring the volcano after a camera in the main crater was damaged, but their camera from Alitagtag town was able to spot the plumes.
Prior to the Saturday plumes, Phivolcs said that a two-minute phreatic eruption released a 2,400-meter high plume.
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On Friday, five volcanic tremors were also recorded by Phivolcs, with the shortest lasting for three minutes and the longest lasting for 608 minutes or more than 10 hours.
Background tremors
Phivolcs called these long tremors as “background tremors,” which are usually associated with the volcano’s degassing events.According to Phivolcs’ alert level scheme for Taal Volcano, Alert Level 1 is “low-level unrest,” which means “hydrothermal or tectonic activity beneath the volcano may be occurring; steam-driven, gas or hydrothermal explosions can occur without warning.”
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In La Castellana, Negros Occidental, meanwhile, heavy rains brought greyish flood waters that caused more residents to evacuate on Friday night.
Mayor Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan of La Castellana town said the thick mud flow contains ash and debris from Mt. Kanlaon and flowed down to the lower section of Barangay Sag-ang.
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The number of evacuees, she said, rose to 3,633 residents on Saturday from 3,300 individuals the previous day.
Calm but dangerous
While Mt. Kanlaon appears to have calmed down since it erupted on June 3, the Alert Level 2 (moderate level of volcanic unrest) was still up.
Mari Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory, said heavy rains could trigger more lahar flow although seismic activity and steam from the volcano has gone down lately.
On Friday, Phivolcs recorded a lahar flow that began at about 2:50 p.m. and lasted for 80 minutes based on the seismic record.
“Cohesive and cement-like” lahar bearing broken tree debris was recorded along the Baji-Baji Falls and Ibid Creek in Barangay Cabacungan in La Castellana.
La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalandoon said grey colored flood water was also seen at the city’s Araal falls.
Ensuing muddy stream flows also passed the Buslugan, Busay Oro, Busay Abaga, Busay Mayor, Busay Kapid, Kabkaban, Ezzy, Busay Ambon and Labi falls.