THOUSANDS OF VILLAGERS FLEE as volcano spews rocks, ash and hot gas
More than 10,000 villagers have fled a rumbling volcano in western Indonesia this month as it continues to send hot ash and thick plumes of black smoke into the air.
Mount Sinabung violently erupted last weekend after two years of inactivity, leading to the evacuation of 7,500 residents from their villages as their homes - some up to 15km away - were covered in ash.
The total number of evacuees now stands at 10,714, say disaster relief officials, after several thousand people fled their homes at the start of the month when authorities raised the alert status of the volcano on Sumatra island.
Tri Budiarto told AFP news agency that desperate people were using any means necessary to escape the area - fleeing ‘on motorcycles, in cars and on military trucks’.
Days after the initial explosion, Sinaburg has continued to spew out rocks and hot gas over a distance of three kilometres. Armen Putra, the head of the volcano observation post, said there is no sign of it easing.
We could still feel tremors. Ash one to two millimetres thick covered roads and homes located 15 kilometres away,’ he said.
‘It could take weeks before it eases, but for now, it is dangerous for people living nearby so we have recommended for them to evacuate.’
The 2,460-metre (8,070-foot) volcano has sporadically erupted since 2010, after being dormant for 400 years. An eruption last year killed at least 17 people.
After Sinabung rumbled back to life in 2013, more than 10,000 people fled from nearby villages. Some have returned home but more than 6,000 of the original evacuees are still living in shelters.
The volcano has also had a devastating economic impact, with the disaster agency estimating it caused more than $100million in damage last year and in 2013 in a broad range of areas, including infrastructure, farming and tourism.
Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanos in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean.