The inhabitants of Vanuatu Island are being shifted Dunkirk-style evacuation immediately with scores of people facing a severe absence of clean drinking water.
Crowds of islanders from at least three evacuation points on the island have begun boarding ferries, canoes and commercial vessels for the safety of surrounding islands Maewo, Pentecost and Santo.
The eruption has polluted many of the island’s water sources leaving thousands of people in need of safe drinking water.
The Manaro Voui volcano, the nation’s largest, was seen hurling steam and rocks into the air about every 8-10 seconds.
About 1000 people were moved off the island over the 24 hours to Sunday evening with another 900 expected to leave tomorrow, Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office told.
The Vanuatu Government wants all 11,000 islanders evacuated by Oct. 6.
Australia sent amphibious Bay Class landing ship HMAS Choules on Saturday to help move the population, and it is expected to arrive by the middle of the week.
Some islanders are flying out while others have already moved to stay with friends or relatives in the capital, Port Vila.
More than 6000 people have gone to emergency shelters on the South Pacific island in preparation for the total evacuation. Manaro Voui stirred to life in September, threatening island residents with burning ash, toxic gas and acid rain. The volcano is crowned by crater lakes. One of them, Lake Voui, is directly on top of the eruption making it dangerously explosive and posing the deadly threat of a lahar: a boiling mud flow down the side of the mountain, Macquarie University vulcanologist Christopher Firth said.
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