Residents living along river channels emanating from Mount Bulusan were warned Monday they could be hit by deadly mudflows from the restive central Philippines volcano. Less than a month before the onset of the wet season, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) expanded its eruption warnings to those living beyond the traditional four-kilometre (2.48-mile) permanent danger zone around Bulusan's crater.
The 1,565-metre (5,133-foot) Bulusan, one of the country's most active volcanoes, has been spewing ash and steam since early May. A May 12 ash emission covered several villages and towns.
"The current activity may lead to more explosive eruptions," the agency said in a statement.
Villagers near streams or rivers should be on alert "against life-threatening lahars (volcanic mudflows) and flashfloods during heavy rains, which might remobilise ash and loose deposits from the upper slopes," the institute said.
Periodic ash emissions from Bulusan have been recorded since October 2006. The volcano, located near the southeast tip of Luzon island some 250 kilometres southeast of Manila, has erupted at least 15 times since 1886, most recently in 1995.
Late last year, more than 1,300 people were killed when a typhoon dislodged tens of thousands of tonnes of volcanic ash and debris from the slopes of nearby Mayon volcano.
Source: Agence France-Presse
