Indonesia’s volcano eruption triggers Tsunami alert, thousands told to evacuate

JAKARTA : A tsunami alert was issued in Indonesia on Wednesday after multiple eruptions of the Ruang mountain volcano sent ash and lava thousands of feet in the sky. The tsunami alert in multiple areas of Indonesia led to the evacuation of over 11,000 people, said local authorities.

The volcano on the northern side of Sulawesi island had at least five large eruptions over the past 24 hours, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said. Authorities raised their volcano alert to its highest level. At least 800 residents left the area on Wednesday.

Indonesia tsunami warning: 10 points

1. Indonesia’s Mount Ruang erupted multiple times on Wednesday, leading to the authorities raising the alert to the highest level. The volcano spewed lava thousands of feet into the sky, and people in the nearby regions were evacuated.
2. Mount Ruang is located in the North Sulawesi Province, prone to regular volcanic activity. It first erupted at 9:45 pm local time on Tuesday, and then four times throughout Wednesday.
3. Authorities urged tourists and others to stay at least 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the 725-meter (2,378 foot) Ruang volcano. The authorities also shut down the Indonesia airport after Ruang’s repeated eruptions.
4. A tsunami alert has been issued due to the volcanic eruptions in the country, and 11,000 people have been evacuated. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency said residents will be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island, a journey of six hours by boat.
5. Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
6. There are no reports of death or injury yet, but two Ruang Island villages were evacuated completely to avoid any potential risk.
7. A statement by Indonesia’s volcano agency warned the locals to “be on alert for the potential ejection of rocks, hot cloud discharges and tsunami caused by the collapse of the volcano’s body into the sea.”
8. The agency further said that the volcanic activity increased in Ruang due to two recent earthquakes causing instability in the tectonic plates.
9. “Based on the result of visual and instrumental observation that showed an increase in volcanic activity, Mount Ruang’s level was raised from Level 3 to Level 4,” Hendra Gunawan, head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency said in a statement late Wednesday.
10. Authorities are aiming to completely clear the island as there could be more eruptions in the area. No activity has been allowed in a 4 km radius of the site of eruptions, the volcano agency said.