About 500 people have already evacuated from the Vanuatu island of Ambae as the island's volcano continues to erupt.
The government's ordered the evacuation of the entire island, as the volcano Manaro Voui blankets the island in ash and acid rain.
The head of the island's provin-cial government today said that about 500 people had already evacuated themselves, either by chartering planes or boats.
The majority of the island's 11,000 people were waiting for the government evacuation, which will start in earnest tomorrow, with ferries starting to arrive today.
The head of the province's disaster committee, Manuel Ure, said about 20 flights were scheduled to get people out today, carrying people to neighbouring islands.
Ure said he hoped the evacuations would be complete by the middle of next week.
Source: RadioNZ
