The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Wednesday allayed fears that a major eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in Pampanga would take place.
Phivolcs director Dr. Renato Solidum assured the public that there is no imminent eruption to happen at Mt. Pinatubo despite a phreatic or weak eruption last Tuesday.
“In 1991 and 1992, magma reached the crater that led to the volcano’s eruption. This time, there was none of that. The recorded earthquakes were (just) 10 kilometers deep or below,” he said.
The recent phreatic explosion was “likely driven by shallow hydrothermal processes beneath the edifice,” Solidum said.
Historically, Mt. Pinatubo’s major eruptions occurred every thousand years, he added.
“Based on visual reports of an eruption plume and seismic, infrasound and satellite detection, the Department of Science and Technology-Phivolcs confirms that a phreatic eruption occurred at Pinatubo crater between 12:09 and 12:13 p.m.,” the state bureau’s report said Tuesday.
After over 500 years of slumber, Mt. Pinatubo showed signs of imminent eruption in April 1991. On June 12, 1991, its intermittent eruptions began. On June 15 of the same year, its most powerful eruption happened.