Vanuatu orders evacuation of 11,000 people from volcano island as acid rain, flying rocks signal major eruption
It sent up a plume of steam and ash over the weekend, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and raise the volcano’s threat level to four, the second highest rating.
Vanuatu on Thursday ordered the compulsory evacuation of an entire island where a huge volcano rumbled to life over the weekend, threatening a major eruption.
All 11,000 people on the island of Ambae – in the Pacific archipelago’s north – will be evacuated by October 6, Prime Minister Charlot Salwai’s office said.
Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) said it was the first time in living memory that an island’s entire population had been moved because of volcanic activity.
“We have the shipping capacity here in Vanuatu to move 11,000 people, it will be mainly commercial vessels moving people to neighbouring islands,” NDMO director Shadrack Welegtabit said.
Most of Ambae’s population is already sheltering in evacuation centres on the island after the Manaro Voui volcano rained rocks and ash on their villages.
It sent up a plume of steam and ash over the weekend, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and raise the volcano’s threat level to four, the second highest rating.