Kamchatka's Avachinski Volcano May Erupt

The Avachinski volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula, in the Far Eastern region of Russia, goes on getting ready to erupt: in the last 24 hours over ten local earth tremors of between 0.5 and 1.5 magnitude on the Richter scale have been registered 700 meters from its top and inside the cupola. The RIA Novosti correspondent reports that, according to scientists from the Kamchatka Volcanology Institute of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as the volcanic activity increases the danger of avalanches from Avachinski slopes grows more. Greater volcanic activity may throw out incandescent magma from the crater. The main department for civilian defense and emergency situations in the Kamchatka region has appealed to the local population not to make hikes to Avachinski, situated a mere 25 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski (a large port on the Pacific shore). The last massive eruption of the Avachinski volcano happened in the winter of 1991. Last September Avachinski again awoke and over 40 local eruptions followed. On October 5 gas and ashes gushed up from the volcanic pipe.