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14 Pagan residents safely evacuated
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Posted on Aug 02 2021
Fourteen Pagan residents were safely evacuated from the island last Saturday and are currently staying with family members on Saipan after an uptick in volcanic tremors prompted the CNMI government to send two boats to the island last Thursday.
Signs of the island’s volcano being restless again induced the Alaska Volcano Observatory of the United States Geological Survey to place Pagan under the yellow level of concern last Friday.
Level yellow means the volcano is restless. At this level, the volcano’s seismic activity is elevated and the volcano’s potential to erupt is increased. Also, in this state, steam and gas may rise above the volcano, which could contain ash.
According to the USGS NMI office, Pagan was placed on level yellow after ground-based observations from local residents indicate that they felt earthquakes and light emissions from Pagan at approximately 4:30pm last July 29.
“Due to the increase in activity, the Aviation Color Code/Volcanic Alert Status was raised to Yellow/Advisory. Seismic, infrasound, and web camera data from Pagan Volcano remain unavailable. No activity observed in satellite images over the past week,” the office stated.
As for the video circulating on social media of what looked to be the mouth of the Pagan volcano surrounded by flames, press secretary Kevin Bautista said that the video is not of Pagan island.
As of press time, Pagan remains at level yellow.
Pagan is one of two volcanoes that make up Pagan Island and is located on the northern end of the Island.
Pagan is one of the most historically active volcanoes in the Northern Mariana Islands. The last large eruption of the volcano was in 1981, followed by three and a half decades of intermittent activity.
Recent activity prior to 2016 was characterized by vigorous steam plumes and degassing from a shallow magma source.
