Second Volcano Erupts in Russia`s Far East in Two Days

Second Volcano Erupts in Russia`s Far East in Two Days
Created: 26.12.2006 13:37 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:37 MSK, 3 hours 21 minutes ago


MosNews


According to a local seismology center a second volcano has erupted on the Kamchatka Peninsula — Russia’s Far East, spewing out ash up to an altitude of 6 miles, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

A village 31 miles away from the Shiveluch volcano, was covered with ash, and volcanic tremors were registered in the area, the seismology center spokesman said.

Officials have instructed local residents to avoid leaving their houses as particles of volcanic ash hanging in the air could cause poisoning and serious diseases.

Shiveluch, the northernmost active volcano on Kamchatka, is the second to erupt on the Pacific peninsula in two days. Another volcano which has erupted recently is Bezymyanny, which is about 62 miles from Shiveluch.

Experts said the outbursts are not linked as the volcanoes belong to different magma chambers and their almost simultaneous eruptions are a coincidence.

According to experts, there are more than 150 volcanoes on Kamchatka, 29 of them active. Volcano’s activity has recently increased on the Kamchatka peninsula.

About 450 minor quakes were registered daily near Karymsky, Kamchatka’s most active volcano in the southeast of the peninsula, which rises to 5,039 feet above sea level.

This year more than 1,200 people, including 542 children, were evacuated from the north of Kamchatka after a series of earthquakes. The first 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest in the north of the peninsula since 1900, injured 31 people on April 21. It also damaged about 380 houses and 25 administrative facilities in four other towns.

Experts from the Moscow International Institute for Earthquake Prediction and Computing Geophysics earlier said there was a 30% probability that an earthquake of more than 7.2 will hit Kamchatka in December.

[link to www.mosnews.com]