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Vanuatu volcano bursts into life
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-09 14:51
A volcano pumping a huge plume of gas, steam and ash into the atmosphere from
a crater ringed with dead trees is unlikely to explode in a devastating
eruption, a vulcanologist said Thursday, bringing applause from anxious
islanders.
About half of Ambae Island's 10,000 inhabitants have fled their huts built on
Mount Manaro's jungle-covered slopes, and four ships are anchored offshore ready
to evacuate the rest if necessary.
Steam billows from Lake Vui in the volcano
crater of Mount Manaro on the island of Ambae, part of the Vanuatu islands
chain, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005.[AP] | But as he
watched seismological readings on the Pacific island 錕斤拷 inspiration for the
idyllic Bali Hai in James Michener's novel "Tales of the South Pacific" 錕斤拷 the
vulcanologist, Brad Scott, said his data suggested it is unlikely the volcano
will blow.
If a large eruption were about to occur "we would see large-scale deformation
at the summit, ... the (lake) water level rising, ... ground cracking, high
temperatures. ... And we've not seen anything like that at all," he said,
surrounded by curious children.
The most likely scenario was that the volcano would continue "like it is for
some days or weeks," added Scott, of New Zealand's Institute of Geological and
Nuclear Sciences.
At its current intensity, the volcanic activity was unlikely to cause a lahar
錕斤拷 a devastating river of mud 錕斤拷 by forcing up the level of the crater's Lake Vui,
whose waters have been churned into a muddy gray-brown in recent days from their
normally picturesque aqua blue.
Displaced villagers sat in the shade of trees Thursday watching the
10,000-foot plume as they waited to hear if they would be allowed go home or be
forced to evacuate the island.
Thousands have already fled to makeshift camps on lower ground.
Roselyn Garae said some 200 people from her village of Lolovoli were trucked
from their homes Monday to a school at Longana, amid fears the eruption could
send a lahar crashing out of the crater.
As the volcano, which soars 4,920 feet out of the South Pacific, began
spewing rocks and ash Nov. 27, villagers sent a team of boys to look into the
crater.
"The volcano was throwing stones up the mountain which fell down into the
hole again. So when they came back home and told us, we were very frightened,"
Roselyn Garae said in broken English.
"Our people were very sad to leave their own place, their properties ... that
are very important for their life," added Garae. "They were afraid, and some did
cry because they have never experienced this kind of erupting."
Obed Tabi, 42, a rural water chief, said the evacuations were the biggest the
island has ever seen. The volcano last erupted in 1995.
"I've never faced anything like this in my life," he added. "We've had a
disaster plan ready for a long time. Now it's working as we move people to safe
areas."
Two hospitals on the island have been emptied of patients, and teams of
doctors and nurses are on standby to fly to Ambae from the capital, Port Vila,
if a major eruption occurs, the National Disaster Management Office said.
Villagers said they fled with only clothes, pots and a few utensils as ash
began to rain down on their subsistence crops. Domestic and farm animals were
left to fend for themselves.
Ambae lies in northern Vanuatu, an 80-island archipelago 1,400 miles
northeast of Sydney, Australia.
About 100 villagers sheltering Thursday from the tropical sun under a
spreading tree applauded another vulcanologist, Charlie Douglas, as he told them
the volcano's readings have been relatively stable for four days.
But Garae said villagers remain anxious.
"Still we are afraid, we're really frightened ... And if it (begins) erupting
very strong ... we are ready to move out from our island," Garae said.
"We (will be) very sorry to leave our island, but we want to save our
people," she added.
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