Teno extends state of emergency anew

For the third time since July, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has declared a state of disaster emergency in the CNMI after a volcano north of Saipan remains to be a danger for residents due to potential major eruptions within the next few months.

In extending an earlier warning issued last Friday, the governor has kept the island of Alamagan at high risk for habitation and travel, thus restricting activities there only to scientific expeditions to monitor the volcano.

Residents of Alamagan, however, have already fled the northern island after the government forbade travels to the area. According to the governor, the area is still unsafe for human habitation.

Issued for the first time last July, the state of emergency will take effect for the next 30 days, subject to revocation or further extension.

Based on the initial warning, personnel of the Department of Public Safety, other government officials and those on scientific missions are permitted to travel to the island upon approval by the Emergency Management Office.

DPS, together with EMO and the Office of the Mayor of the Northern Islands, is granted authority to enforce the off-limits ban. They may also seek assistance from federal agencies, like the U.S. Coast Guard, to carry out its duties.

The small volcano showed signs of possible eruptions last December after years of slumber, spewing thick black smoke and sulfuric smoke that prompted immediate rescue of dozens of residents on the island, about 159 miles north of Saipan.

The Hawaii Volcanic Observatory has alerted the CNMI government about potential “major eruptions” in Alamagan based on the findings of the U.S. Geological Survey.

It has also urged installation of monitoring device on the island to provide an early warning system of impending volcanic eruptions. EMO set up the system in a visit last June in which officials also had discovered that steaming from the side of the volcano remains.

A period of six to eight months is needed to make a definite assessment of the situation in Alamagan, one of the few inhabited islands in the north.

The last major eruptions in the Northern Marianas, a chain of volcanic rocks and formation in the Western Pacific, occurred in 1982 when a volcano in Pagan exploded after decades of inactivity.