More than 12,000 evacuated following volcano Ruang’s eruption in Indonesia
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Efforts in Indonesia began to evacuate about 12,000 residents from their homes on Wednesday following the eruption of the Ruang volcano.
The volcano erupted on Tuesday, spewing lava and rocks, with the authorities raising the alert level to the highest possible and warning of potential pyroclastic flows, deadly ash surges and the possibility of a tsunami, DW reports.
The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) had warned the residents of Tagulandang island that a tsunami could be triggered by volcanic material collapsing into the ocean.
Al Jazeera states that after four more eruptions on Wednesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency raised the alert level for the 725-metre (2,379-foot) high mountain to four, the highest on the scale. They also widened the exclusion zone around the crater from four kilometres (2.5 miles) to six kilometres (3.7 miles).
More than 800 people were evacuated initially from Ruang to nearby Tagulandang Island, which is located more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the provincial capital, Manado. 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.
