Vanuatu has ordered the compulsory evacuation of all the residents of the island of Ambae because of volcanic activity.
The government renewed a state of emergency Friday for the island after a volcano eruption filled the sky with ash.
Ambae’s approximately 10,000 residents have received evacuation orders twice since September when the eruptions began.
Lillian Garaw, an Ambae resident, told the Associated Press she has had difficulty sleeping because of the noise the volcano makes. She said the ash has aggravated asthma in some young children.
Thousands of residents on Ambae were forced to leave their homes when Manaro last erupted in 2005.
Vanuatu, home to just 280,000 people scattered across 80 islands, is located on the Pacific’s so-called Ring of Fire, a seismically active line of faults where earthquakes and volcanoes are common.
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