Vanuatu volcano eruption declines: official
22/5/2006 15:10
Vanuatu's National Disaster Management Office said today activity at the
Lopevi Volcano remains at Level 2.
Office spokesperson Maurice Harrison said
the "eruption has been declining" since the middle of last week and the ashfall
has stopped.
According to reports reaching in Wellington, the Lopevi volcano
began erupting on May 1 and had caused heavy ashfall for nearby islands of Paama
and Ambrym, with reports of contaminated water and damaged food
crops.
Harrison said the Office has not yet dispatched fresh water supplies
to affected villages, and is waiting on further reports from police on the
ground.
"We are taking precautionary measure, take it very slowly and see the
activity until it really cools down and then we will just lower the level," said
Harrison.
He said reports of an eruption on Tanna, another volcano, last week
related to a minor landslide on the volcanic crater, but nothing major.
There
was a volcano eruption in December last year on the remote Ambae Island of
Vanuatu. Villagers around have been evacuated for about one month from the path
of a possible lahar, or mud flow.
The South Pacific Vanuatu groups a string
of more than 80 islands, most of the islands being inhabited. Some have active
volcanos.
Xinhua
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