The volcano, 725 meters high and located on a small island in the Sangihe archipelago, recorded a large eruption that sent a large column of smoke and ash at least 3,000 meters above the summit of Indonesia.
Indonesian authorities on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of more than 800 residents of a small island in the central region of Sulawesi following increased activity of the Ruang volcano.
During the previous night, the volcano, 725 meters high and located on a small island in the Sangihe archipelago, recorded a large eruption that sent a large column of smoke and ash to at least 3,000 meters above the summit, the department notes. of Indonesian volcanology.
The entity specifies that its estimate of the eruption, which took place after 8:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT), is based on visual observations on the ground and that the column “could be larger.”
According to the Zoom Earth portal, which follows the development of meteorological phenomena, the eruption is so large that it could be captured by satellite images and has created a large cloud that affects the adjacent islands.
The Australian Department of Meteorology points out in a statement on “volcanic ash alerts” that the column of smoke would have reached 19,000 meters high.
“Communities around Mount Ruang and visitors should remain on alert and stay out of a 4-kilometer radius around the volcano’s crater,” the National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement issued before the latest eruption, after raising the day before at level III (about a maximum of IV) the alert due to the activity of the volcano.
As a result of the measure announced today, 828 residents have been evacuated to another nearby island.
Indonesia is home to more than 400 volcanoes, of which at least 129 remain active and 65 are classified as dangerous.
In December 2023, the sudden eruption of the Merapi volcano, on the island of Sumatra, claimed the lives of 23 people.
Indonesia sits within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by about 7,000 earthquakes a year, most of them of low magnitude.
With information from EFE*
