Hundreds in emergency shelters after Philippine volcano erupts

AFP :
Hundreds of people sheltered in evacuation centres on Tuesday after a volcano erupted in the central Philippines.
Mount Kanlaon on Negros island exploded for six minutes on Monday night, sending a plume of ash, rocks and gases five kilometres (three miles) into the sky.

The state volcanology agency raised the alert level for the volcano from one to two on a scale of zero to five, warning more explosive eruptions were possible.

At least 2,800 people have moved into emergency centres, according to official figures, due to falling ash, gases and the threat of lahars from the volcano.

Lahars are mammoth flows of volcanic debris deposited on the volcano’s slopes and unleashed by heavy rain. They can bury villages.

Canlaon city, in Negros Oriental province, ordered people living next to rivers downstream of the volcano to leave their homes and said non-essential businesses should shut.

Multiple flights to and from Bacolod, the capital of Negros Occidental province and the nearest major airport to the volcano, were cancelled.

“The smoke has dissipated already,” Robert Araneta of the Negros Occidental provincial disaster agency told AFP.
“We’re not seeing any threatening activities from the volcano. Some municipalities can still smell the sulphur.”