Saipan Volcano Erupts Over Pacific Islands~shooting a thick plume of ash 50,000 feet into the air

Las Vegas Sun ^ | April 06, 2005 at 8:54:42 PDT | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) - Anatahan Volcano erupted Wednesday morning, shooting a thick plume of ash 50,000 feet into the air and darkening the skies over this tiny U.S. territory in the Pacific.

Officials have placed Anatahan Island off limits until further notice, advising aircraft to exercise caution and avoid coming within 10 nautical miles of the area.

Ronald Dela Cruz of the Saipan Emergency Management Office said children were sent home early from school as ash fell on Saipan and Tinian, but there were no injuries or major disruptions reported.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta issued a health advisory, urging residents with lung problems to stay indoors and warning people against drinking water contaminated with ash. Motorists were told to avoid driving in heavy ash, because it could clog engines and stall vehicles.

The eruption is at least the fourth in the past two years. The Northern Mariana Islands, about 3,800 miles southwest of Hawaii, have nine active volcanoes. They are home to about 70,000 people.

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

[snarks_when_bored]

Talk about riding a rocket...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

another Map

[EagleUSA]

Wow, the Pacific is coming alive again. I spent some time (military) on Saipan in the sixties and I was very peaceful volcanically. Plenty of typhoons but no earthquakes or otherwise. Very interesting.

[Strategerist]

Beautiful pic from the first Anatahan eruption two years ago was my desktop background for a long time.

[FormerACLUmember]

[wolfpat]

It's President Bush's fault. Rove must have arranged this because the President is on his way to Rome.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not that far from Guam, would not seem to be a smart place to station a Carrier battle group.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just a tiny spot in a vast ocean....

[COEXERJ145]

USGS Site (HVO) on the Anatahan Volcano

[American Vet Repairman]

Is this a Kyoto treaty violation?

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

The Earth has been real active lately. Earthquakes and volcano activity is happening more and more often. Who pissed off mother Earth this time.

[BIGLOOK]

Take a gander at this......not all that far from San Francisco's incident.

[snarks_when_bored]

Agreed. Maybe they think they'll have adequate notice if a large eruption takes place.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Discovery Channel's Promo on Supervolcanoe...yellowstone ...coming April 10, 2005

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Earth has been real active lately. Earthquakes and volcano activity is happening more and more often.

Don't think that is true.

[mewzilla]

Whoa. That puppy needs some Maaloxx.

[Strategerist]

The Earth has been real active lately. Earthquakes and volcano activity is happening more and more often.

This is completely false.

The number of large earthquakes has been below normal for many years, and there's nothing particularly unusual about current volcanic activity. There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption anywhere since 1992.

[Strategerist]

In contrast to pieces of crap like "10.5" and "The Day After Tomorrow" the DSC's "Supervolcano" (originally done by the BBC) looks like it's good.

The director of the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory has actually recommended seeing it.