Mount Bulusan falls silent after ash explosion

A day after unleashing one of its most menacing displays of fury, Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon stood calm Wednesday as rescue teams prepare for more possible rumblings from the volcano. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded 46 volcanic quakes over the past 24 hours, an indication that Bulusan's rage was cooling. GMA News, however, quoted Phivolcs officials as saying that this behavior was "abnormal" nonetheless. Bulusan unleashed a five-kilometer ash column, its highest ever, on Tuesday morning. The Alert Level 1 warning at the volcano remained unchanged. The winds blew the ash towards the towns of Irosin and Juban, where a total of 11 villages were affected by the ashfall. GMA News reported that the villages of Bolos, Caladgao, Cogon, Gulang-Gulang, Gabao, Omagom and Mombon were affected in Irosin. Meanwhile in Juban, the ashfall reached the villages of Puting Sapa, Sangkayon, Buraburan and Bacolod. Brigadier Gen. Arseni Arugay, chief of the Army's 9th Infantry Division, said his men were prepared to assist local folk should the need arise. Provincial disaster management officials did not receive any reports of casualties nor damage to property in the wake of the ash explosion. Phivolcs resident volcanologist Bella Tubianosa said government scientists were monitoring the volcano for sulfur dioxide emissions, seismicity and ground deformations. State volcanologists went to the volcano's slope to measure the ash discharge and determine the potential danger of lahar flows. - GMANews.TV