Volcano erupts in northern Indonesia:
A volcano erupts in northern Indonesia has erupted many times, forcing more than 11,000 people to flee and disrupting aviation transport in the area. The initial eruption of Mount Ruang, which is situated in the North Sulawesi Province, occurred on Tuesday around 9:45 p.m. (13:45 GMT), sending towering clouds of ash and smoke high into the sky.
The Indonesian volcanology agency increased the alert level for the 2,379-foot (725-meter) high mountain to four on the scale following four further explosions on Wednesday.
Additionally, they increased the size of the exclusion zone surrounding the crater from four to six kilometers (2.5 to 3.7 miles).
Originally, more than 800 residents of Ruang were evacuated to Tagulandang Island, which is close by and more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Manado, the provincial seat.
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However, officials said on Thursday morning that more people will have to be evacuated and brought to Manado due to the expanding exclusion zone. According to the Kompas newspaper, Abdul Muhari, the director of the disaster agency’s catastrophe data, communications, and information center, “at least 11,615 residents who are in the risk area must evacuate to a safe place.”
Authorities are also concerned that, as happened during an earlier eruption in 1871, a portion of the volcano may collapse into the sea and trigger a tsunami. Video footage displayed billowing clouds of grey ash over Ruang’s crater and streams of crimson lava rushing down the mountain, reflected in the waterways below.
Ruang’s first eruption produced an ash column two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the sky, while the second explosion pushed it to 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles), according to Muhammad Wafid, the head of Indonesia’s geological agency.
