THOUSANDS EVACUATED AS INDONESIA’S MOUNT RUANG ERUPTS AGAIN

Wed 01 May 2024:

Following another eruption of Mount Ruang in Indonesia, which sent dense ash clouds more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) into the sky, thousands of people had to be evacuated and flights were canceled.

Mount Ruang recorded a series of eruptions earlier in April that also led to evacuations and disruption to aviation amid fears of a tsunami.

Videos released by the Indonesian disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) showed lightning strikes above Ruang’s crater accompanied by flaming red lava and rock clouds shooting upwards.

There are concerns that debris from the volcano in the North Sulawesi province of the archipelago may fall into the sea and trigger a tsunami, as officials reported that the volcano erupted at least three times on Tuesday.

According to the agency, all 843 residents of Ruang Island, the location of the volcano, have been relocated to Manado, the province capital, which is roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) away. With the assistance of two ships, about 12,000 residents of nearby Tagulandang Island are being evacuated to Siau Island, which is located further north.

On Wednesday morning, the Indonesian meteorological office (BMKG) released a map demonstrating that volcanic ash had extended to Borneo, the island that Indonesia shares with Brunei and Malaysia.

Seven airports, including those in Manado and Gorontalo, were forced to close, according to AirNav Indonesia, the Indonesian air traffic control agency.

Malaysia Airlines said the ash led to the cancellation of some flights to and from airports in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, with travel dependent on the weather conditions. North Sulawesi is in the central part of the Indonesian archipelago.

The head of the Mount Ruang monitoring site, Julius Ramopolii, said that on Wednesday morning, the volcano was still spewing smoke and ash above the crater.

He noted that the four-tiered alert system was still at its highest level and urged citizens to stay outside the seven-kilometer exclusion zone that the authorities had set.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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