The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano, in the far east of Russia, covered several cities in the region with ash on Tuesday in a record amount in the last 60 years.
“The previous ash fall of this magnitude in Klyuchi, the closest town to Shiveluch, occurred in 1964,” said Alexei Ozerov, director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“At the moment, the ash layer has reached about 8.5 centimeters and the ash rain continues,” he added.
The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano began at 00:54 local time (12:54 Monday in Lisbon), with the release of a column of ash that reached 20 kilometers in height and extended 500 kilometers to the northwest.
A maximum danger alert for aviation was issued after the eruption.
“Thunder is heard due to electrostatic voltage in the ash cloud,” Ust-Kamchatsk Region Governor Oleg Bondarenko said on the Telegram social network.
Local authorities called on the population to stay at home, canceled classes and closed the region’s roads due to the risk of landslides.
Masks and other means of personal protection are also distributed.
Shiveluch, one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Kamchatka, eastern Russia, at 3,283 meters high, is made up of three calderas.
In February 2015, the same volcano released a column of ash more than 6,000 meters high, forming a cloud that reached the United States.
Source: TSF
