“As a consequence of ongoing volcanic exercise at East Epi sub-marine volcano with phreatic explosions, mild degassing and emissions of ash, the hazard zone is at 10km radius across the East Epi sub-marine volcano,” Vanuatu’s Meteorology and Geo-hazards Division posted on Fb. “Newest observations confirmed that the volcanic cone is increase with the continual ash emissions.”
The division stated there was no indication of a tsunami, however warned islanders to keep alert for a potential massive earthquake linked to the volcanic eruption which may set off harmful waves.
Final yr, an underwater volcano erupted close to one other Pacific island nation, Tonga, that was by some measures the most important ever recorded. It created a shock wave that reverberated world wide and despatched a cloud of aerosols, gasoline, steam and ash 36 miles excessive. The blast, which blew out 2.three cubic miles of rock, unleashed a worldwide tsunami, broken dozens of houses and took at the least three lives on Tonga.
Each Tonga and Vanuatu sit alongside the “Ring of Fireplace,” a extremely volcanic horseshoe-shaped area from the southern tip of South America, alongside the West Coast of North America, throughout the Bering Strait, down by means of Japan and into New Zealand. It’s the place the Pacific Plate meets many surrounding tectonic plates.
The U.S. Geological Survey describes the ring because the “most seismically and volcanically lively zone on the planet,” and residential to about 75 p.c of the Earth’s lively volcanoes. It’s the supply of about 90 p.c of the world’s earthquakes.
The underwater volcano that erupted on Wednesday off Vanuatu is one in every of a collection of lively underwater volcanic cones and a caldera which final erupted in 2004, in line with Radio New Zealand.
