Volcano re-erupts in Indonesia

INDONESIA: A volcano in Sumatra, island of Indonesia erupted again Tuesday, strongest in the five eruptions in the last two weeks, shooting ashes 5,000 meters into the air, but there is no casualty, officials said.

The eruption sent hot ash rain toward south-east of Mount Sinabung, located in Karo district of North Sumatra, by up to eight kilometers, official of the National Volcanology Agency Nia Hairani told Xinhua over phone from the agency headquarters in West Java province.

But, the ashes did not disturb main routes of aviation, as they kept away from the main airport at North Sumatra located in northern of the mount, said Hairani.

She said that the eruption occurred at 00:23 am Jakarta time Tuesday (1723 GMT Monday).

The shakes by the eruption could be felt eight kilometers away, said Hairani.

Over 2,400-km-high Mount Sinabung located in Karo district of North Sumatra first erupted on Aug. 29 after about 400 years dormancy, forcing over 30,000 people flee homes.

Although thousands of evacuees have returned home after taking shelters for days, there were no injuries or fatality in the Tuesday’s eruption, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency Priyadi Kardono said.

The latest figure of the internally displaced persons has reduced to 24,000, he said.

Senior official of the agency in Karo district Darwis Sitinjak said that the police and authorities have warned the people not to enter the risky zone at the radius of six kilometers before Tuesday’s eruption. “We have sterilized the risky zone of six kilometers, so the eruption did not cause any panic,” he told Xinhua over phone from Karo district.

Indonesia, the archipelago country with over 17,500 islands, has 129 active volcanoes, of which more than 80 are monitored regularly.

Jakarta, Tuesday, Xinhua