Google – AFP, 24 November 2013
Image taken
on November 20, 2013 shows Indonesia's Mount Sinabung, which
has erupted eight
times in just a few hours on Sunday (AFP/File, Sutanta Aditya)
|
Jakarta — A
volcano in western Indonesia has erupted eight times in just a few hours,
"raining down rocks" over a large area and forcing thousands to flee
their homes, officials said Sunday.
Mount
Sinabung has been erupting on and off since September, but went into overdrive
late Saturday and early Sunday, repeatedly spewing out red-hot ash and rocks up
to eight kilometres (five miles) into the air.
Several
thousand people left their homes overnight, taking the total number of those
who have fled since the volcano rumbled to life to around 12,300, said the
national disaster agency.
"People
panicked last night as the eruption was accompanied by a loud thunderous sound
and vibrations. Then it started raining down rocks," said local government
official Robert Peranginangin.
"They
ran helter-skelter out of their homes and cried for help."
He added
there were no known casualties from the latest eruptions.
The
volcanology agency raised the alert level for the volcano, on the northern tip
of Sumatra island, to the highest point on a four-stage scale, meaning a
hazardous eruption is imminent or under way.
National
disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the government was calling
for people living within five kilometres (3.1 miles) of the volcano to leave
their homes.
Sinabung,
one of dozens of active volcanoes in Indonesia which straddles major tectonic
fault lines known as the "Ring of Fire", erupted in September for the
first time since 2010.
In August
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment