Russia prepares for volcano eruption

Residents of Kamchatka in far eastern Russia are on alert for yet another volcano eruption.

With two volcanoes continuously active for the past 11 years, the Russian Academy of Sciences is warning seismic activity has intensified at a third volcano, the Bezymyanny, Itar-Tass news agency reported Monday.

An eruption occurred at Bezymyanny in May with heated gas, steam and rock fragments pouring down the volcano slope onto the village of Klyuchi some 25 miles away.

A spokesman for the academy's Geophysical Service told the news agency weak tremors have been recorded on the surface of the volcano along with a minor thermal anomaly that exceeds the air temperature by some nine degrees.

Monitoring of the Bezymyanny volcano has been continual because eruptions occur quite suddenly approximately twice each year.

Kamchatka, its landscape dotted with active volcanoes, was discovered by Russian Cossacks more than 300 years ago.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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