The submarine volcano known as Kavachi, located near Vangunu in the World Heritage listed Marovo lagoon, Western province has reportedly caused fear to people in the Marovo Lagoon.
Gregan Siliva from Telina village in Central Marovo told Solomon Star yesterday said, people in Marovo are living in fear as debris t of the submarine volcanoe made its way through the lagoon.
He claimed there some signs of volcanic activity being visible in the lagoon which villagers to live in fear and that the volcano is making shifting.
He said since last month there was non-stop cloudy waters being seen swirling over the location of the underwater volcano.
“We were leaving in fear since the weather has gone nonstop and associated with a steady wind.
“Besides that, some signs of volcanic activity have been seen visible around the lagoon which people think that this volcano has made its new route under the lagoon, which put the entire population in Marovo in fear,” Mr Siliva told the Solomon Star by phone from Telina.
Mr Siliva further claimed, some of the fragments from the volcano have washed ashore on some of the islands in lagoons.
The villagers have urged the responsible authorities to visit Marovo and investigate the situation.
When contacted yesterday the ministry of mines and energy spokesperson Thomas Toba said, ministry wasn’t aware of the situation.
He said maybe what happened in the lagoon is related to climate change and not volcanic activity.
“But the ministry would not rule it out, we would make an attempt to investigate this concern,” Mr Toba said.
He urged people in the lagoon to report any suspicious activity about kavachi to them.
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia reports , In May 2000, an international research team aboard the CSIRO research vessel FRANKLIN fixed the position of the kavachie volcano at 8° 59.65’S, 157° 58.23’E.
At that time the vent of the volcano was below sea level, but frequent eruptions ejected molten lava up to 70m above sea level, and sulphurous steam plumes up to 500m.
The team mapped a roughly conical feature rising from 1,100 m water depth, with the volcano having a basal diameter of about 8 km.
When the volcano erupted in 2003, a 15-meter-high island formed above the surface, but it disappeared soon after. Additional eruptive activity was observed and reported in March 2004 and April 2007.
Kavachi volcanoe is one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the south-west Pacific Ocean.
Located south of Vangunu Island in the western province, it erupted dozens of times in the 20th century, often breaking the water surface, only to be eroded back below the water line within a few months.
By DENVER NEWTER
