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JAKARTA (AFP) - More than 15,000 people have now fled their homes since Mount Sinabung in western Indonesia spectacularly erupted this week, an official said Thursday.
The volcano in North Sumatra province erupted for the first time in three years on Sunday, spewing rocks and red-hot ash onto nearby villages, and has been rumbling ever since.
The volcano sent a column of smoke as high as three kilometres (two miles) into the sky on Tuesday, forcing villagers outside the immediate "danger" zone to flee.
"So far, 15,281 people have been evacuated in 16 temporary shelters across Karo district," district administration spokesman Robert Peranginangin told AFP.
He said that some villagers, mostly men, had been returning to their homes by day to feed their cattle and returned to the shelters overnight.
Authorities warned airlines to take care flying in the vicinity of the volcano, while some light aircraft were advised to avoid the area.
The volcano had been dormant for nearly 100 years until it erupted in August and September 2010, forcing about 12,000 people to flee their homes.
Indonesia has dozens of active volcanoes and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the "Ring of Fire" between the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Last month five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano on a tiny island in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted.
The country's most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of violent eruptions in 2010.
Airlines told to avoid path near Indonesia volcano
By AP News Sep 19, 2013 2:25PM UTC
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — More than 15,000 residents have fled a volcano that rumbled to life less than a week ago in Indonesia and local airlines have been warned to avoid flying near the mountain as thick ash continues to spew from its crater, an official said Thursday.
The aviation warning was issued Wednesday for small planes serving short-haul flights in the region as small eruptions continue at Mount Sinabung, said Susanto, general manager for air navigation at Kuala Namu airport in North Sumatra’s capital Medan. Like many Indonesians, he uses only one name.
Villagers work on a rice field as Mount Sinabung spews volcanic materials in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Pic: AP.
Data from the local emergency task force showed the number of people evacuated has doubled to more than 15,000 after many residents outside the 3-kilometer (1.9-mile) danger area abandoned their houses.
The 2,600-meter (8,530-foot) volcano first erupted Sunday after being dormant for three years. A larger eruption occurred two days later volcanic ash and thick smoke were belched up to 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) into the air that ignited fires on its slopes.
The volcano’s last eruption in August 2010 killed two people and forced 30,000 others to flee. It caught many scientists off guard because it had been quiet for four centuries.
Mount Sinabung is among around 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
