The volcano sent a tower of ash more than three miles into the air
Manado, Indonesia:
Indonesia's remote Mount Ruang volcano erupted several times on Tuesday, authorities said. The highest alert level was issued and thousands of people were ordered to evacuate due to the threat of a tsunami from debris sliding into the sea.
The country's volcanology agency had warned that the threat from the volcano was not over after it erupted more than a half-dozen times this month, leading to the evacuation of more than 6,000 people.
Ruang, located in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, erupted around 1:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday (1715 GMT Monday) and then twice more that morning, the volcanology bureau said in a statement.
The volcano sent a tower of ash more than three miles into the air, he added, as well as a fiery column of lava.
The national disaster agency BNPB estimated that 11,000 to 12,000 people had to be relocated from near the Ruang crater, spokesman Abdul Muhari told a news conference.
“Currently, the local disaster management office… the military and police are evacuating residents,” he said.
Images released by the agency showed a molten red column bursting into the sky, a large ash cloud pouring out of the crater and burning embers near local homes.
The disaster agency has established a seven-kilometer exclusion zone around Ruang after volcanology officials warned locals of “the potential for ejection of glowing rocks, hot clouds and tsunamis due to eruption material entering the sea.”
Abdul said a rescue ship and a warship have been dispatched to move thousands of people from neighboring Tagulandang Island north to Siau Island due to the tsunami warning.
“We urge people in Tagulandang Island to stay away from coastal areas and be alert to the possibility of a tsunami,” he said, citing an 1871 wave that killed about 400 people after volcanic debris fell into the sea.
Relocations
The fear of the tsunami was also prompted by more recent events.
The crater of Mount Anak Krakatoa, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, also partially collapsed in 2018 when a major eruption sent huge chunks of the volcano into the ocean, causing a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and thousands were injured.
More than 800 people live on Ruang, all of whom were evacuated this month.
Some had returned to their homes after emergency aid ended on Monday, an AFP journalist said.
It is unclear how many residents have returned and how many residents had to evacuate again.
But Abdul said those previously evacuated from Ruang had to be taken to the provincial capital Manado to await relocation as they could not return to their homes due to fears of eruptions.
Ruang's latest eruption prompted authorities to once again close Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, more than 100 kilometers away, according to a message from state air traffic control AirNav Indonesia.
The message stated that the airport was closed due to “volcanic ash from Ruang”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, regularly experiences seismic and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific Ocean's “Ring of Fire.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
