Vanuatu orders evacuation of island with rumbling volcano
Source: Associated Press
By NICK PERRY
Today
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Vanuatu officials on Thursday ordered the complete evacuation of an island in the Pacific archipelago where a rumbling, belching volcano is threatening to blow.
Boats were soon to begin ferrying residents off Ambae island, which is home to about 11,000 people, in a process expected to take about a week. The Manaro volcano has been increasingly active for a week or more, raising fears of a major eruption.
Government spokesman Hilaire Bule said ministers decided they couldn’t risk people’s lives and so ordered the compulsory evacuation. Previously, people had been evacuated to other areas on the island itself. Ambae resident Lilian Garae said she could see “smoke coming out from the hills” and hear regular booming noises from the volcano. She said she was waiting to hear when she might have to leave her home and where she might be sent.
Ambae is about 400 square kilometers (154 square miles), making it a little larger than the city of Detroit. It is one of about 65 inhabited islands in the Pacific nation about one-quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii.
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