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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