JAKARTA, Indonesia: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted three times on Thursday, sending an ash column five kilometers into the sky and spewing lava amid flashes of lightning, the Geological Agency reported.
Mount Ibu, which lies in North Maluku province on the island of Halmahera, erupted three times in the early hours of Wednesday, 1600 GMT: first at 7:46 and 8:11 in the morning. The initial eruption propelled an ash tower over 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above the peak, according to the agency’s statement.
The explosion that followed lasted for about two minutes, and Muhammad Wafid, the chairman of the Geological Agency, said that an ash column was seen around 1,000 meters above the mountain.
The agency advised residents and tourists to stay out of an exclusion zone ranging between four and seven kilometers from Ibu’s crater and to wear eye and mouth coverings when outdoors to protect against ash inhalation.
Despite these dramatic eruptions, there were no new evacuation orders, and no immediate reports of casualties or damage on Halmahera, which is home to around 700,000 people. The recent eruptions follow a series of significant volcanic activity last month that led authorities to evacuate more than half a dozen villages.
Mount Ibu is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, with over 21,000 eruptions recorded last year. It remains at the highest alert level in the country’s four-tiered warning system.
Indonesia, an archipelago nation, frequently experiences seismic and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” In April, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi Province erupted more than half a dozen times, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents from nearby islands.
