• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
More than a month after its phreatic eruption on June 3, Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Island remains restive after emitting 3,765 tons of sulfur dioxide in the past 24 hours, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Phivolcs said that two volcanic earthquakes were also recorded, with plume emission reaching 300 meters high and drifting southwest.
The volcano’s edifice remains inflated, it added.
On July 2, increased seismic activity was observed after it generated at least 90 volcanic earthquakes.
Alert level 2 is still in effect over Mt. Kanlaon and entry into the volcano’s four-kilometer radius permanent danger zone is strictly prohibited.
“The overall monitoring parameters indicate that magmatic processes beneath the volcano may be driving current unrest, causing increased volcanic and seismic activities, persistently high concentrations of volcanic gas emission and swelling of the edifice,” Phivolcs said. | GB
