THOUSANDS EVACUATED AS VOLCANO ERUPTS IN NORTHERN INDONESIA

Thu 18 April 2024:

A volcano in northern Indonesia erupted multiple times, forcing more than 11,000 people to flee and disrupting air travel in the area.

Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. (13:45 GMT), Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi Province initially erupted, sending billowing clouds of ash and smoke high into the sky.

The Indonesian volcanology agency increased the alert level for the 2,379-foot (725-meter) high mountain to four, the highest on the scale, on Wednesday following four more explosions.

Additionally, they increased the size of the exclusion zone surrounding the crater from four to six kilometers (2.5 to 3.7 miles).

More than 800 people were evacuated initially from Ruang to nearby Tagulandang Island, but officials said on Thursday morning that more people would need to be evacuated as a result of the widening exclusion zone, and would be taken to Manado.

“At least 11,615 residents who are in the risk area must evacuate to a safe place,” Abdul Muhari, the head of the disaster agency’s disaster data, communications and information centre was quoted as saying by the Kompas newspaper.

Officials also worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami as it did during a previous eruption in 1871.

Muhammad Wafid, the head of Indonesia’s geological agency, earlier said Ruang’s initial eruption sent an ash column two kilometres (1.2 miles) into the sky, with the second eruption pushing it to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles).

Aviation authorities announced the closure of Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado until at least Thursday evening, there was also significant disruption to flights to and from Kota Kinabalu International Airport in neighbouring Malaysia.

Following two earthquakes in recent weeks, Ruang’s activity has escalated, according to the volcanology service.

Indonesia is located along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped network of tectonic fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean with 120 active volcanoes,

2018 saw the Anak Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia erupt, sending a tsunami along the beaches of Java and Sumatra as a result of the mountain’s partial collapse into the sea. Hundreds of people were killed.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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