Manila, December 10 (AP) About 87 thousand people are being evacuated to safe places on Tuesday after a volcano erupted in the central region of the Philippines. After the volcano erupted, a huge plume of gas and ash was seen coming out and extremely hot lava along with debris was seen flowing down the western slopes. There were no immediate casualties in the recent eruption of Mount Kanlaon volcano on central Negros island, but the alert level has been raised to a higher level due to the possibility of a more intense eruption. Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol and other officials said volcanic ash fell more than 200 kilometers to the west, including in Antique province. The ash cloud reduced visibility and posed a health hazard. At least six domestic flights and one flight to Singapore were canceled and two local flights were diverted on Monday and Tuesday due to the eruption of the Kanlaon volcano, according to the Philippine Civil Aviation Authority. The Civil Protection Office said mass evacuations were being carried out immediately from nearby towns and villages on the western and southern slopes of Kanlaon. This also includes the city of La Castellana in Negros Occidental, where about 47 thousand people are to be evacuated from the danger zone within a radius of six kilometers. City Mayor Rumila Mangilimutan said that till Tuesday morning, more than six thousand people had gone to the rescue centres. Apart from this, many people have gone to their relatives’ homes in La Castellana for a few days. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said authorities were prepared to provide assistance to the large number of villagers being displaced and his social welfare secretary left for the affected area Tuesday morning. “We are ready to provide assistance to families who have been evacuated from the six-kilometer danger zone,” Marcos told reporters. Government scientists are monitoring air quality due to the threat of pollution from toxic volcanic gases. are being maintained, which may lead to the need to evacuate more people from areas affected by Monday’s explosion. Authorities have closed schools and imposed nightly curfews in the most sensitive areas. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the nearly four-minute eruption of Kanlaon volcano on Monday afternoon released a ‘pyroclastic’ density stream (an extremely hot stream of gas, ash, debris and rocks that incinerates anything in its path). Can burn to ashes) originated. The alert system around Kanlaon was raised to the third-highest level on Monday, indicating the beginning of a “magmatic eruption” and the possibility of further massive eruptions. AP Yasir Manisha Manisha
