An Indonesia volcano recently erupted for the third time in recent months. Mount Sinabung was the volcano that erupted, causing hundreds of villagers to evacuate.
The volcano unleashed a 7-km (4.3 mile) column of ash into the air on Sunday. The volcano is located on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Mount Sinabung is a 2,460-meter-tall volcano in the Karo district of North Sumatra. The most active Indonesia volcano is Mt. Merapi in central Java.
There is certainly cause for alarm after a single volcano erupts three times in three months. No casualties have been reported this time, but over 1,000 people have already been evacuated, and that number is expected to rise. A total of 1,293 people from four different villages surrounding the volcano were evacuated with the help of the military on Sunday. The volcano is about 88 km from the province’s capital, Medan.
The last time that the volcano erupted was on October 24, and in September, the volcano caused over 14,000 people to be evacuated from their homes when the it showed signs of activity. Mount Sinabung is also only one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world’s fourth-most populated country.
Nice to see Mt Sinabung doing what volcanoes do best again. I went up the Mt Sibayak a couple of years ago, the next volcano along. Steamy!
— Zevonesque ⚽ (@zevonesque) November 3, 2013
Mount Sinabung, the Indonesia volcano, along with others, is especially prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ocean and the “Ring of Fire.” The “Ring of Fire” has been used to label the arc of volcanoes and fault lines that surround the Pacific Basin. Before the past three eruptions, Mount Sinabung had not shown any activity in over three years.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, told the Bangkok Post that “Tremors are still occurring and thick black clouds are still being spewed.”
The government raised the threat level due to the Indonesia volcano to stand-by, which is the second-highest level that a volcanic threat can become. This happened after the volcanic quakes continued, threatening to evacuate even more people in the surrounding area.