A volcano in Indonesia is erupting, threatening a tsunami, forcing hundreds to evacuate

After a volcano erupted five times on Thursday, causing officials to shut a nearby airport and issue a warning about falling debris that may create a tsunami, Indonesian rescuers rushed to evacuate thousands of people.

 

After erupting four times on Wednesday, Mount Ruang’s crater blazed with lava against a background of lightning strikes overnight, prompting officials to up the warning level to the highest of a four-tiered system.

Authorities closed the closest international airport in Manado city, Sulawesi island, for a whole day on Thursday morning due to the volcano on a remote island in Indonesia’s most remote area continuing to spew smoke.

On the nearby isolated island of Tagulandang, houses were littered with holes caused by falling volcanic rocks, and the inhabitants were getting ready to flee, if only temporarily.

“Volcanic material is covering the current condition, particularly the road condition,” local rescuer Ikram Al Ulah told AFP over the phone from the harbor in Tagulandang.

“A lot of folks are still getting lost right now. Perhaps to remove valuables from their home.”

near 20,000 people live in the region near Tagulandang, and authorities claimed they were scrambling to evacuate more than 11,000 individuals.

Officials said that some individuals were already attempting to escape in a panic.

“People scattered to find evacuation routes last night due to the volcano’s eruption and small rocks that fell,” according to a statement released on Thursday by Jandry Paendong, an official with the local search and rescue organization.

He stated that twenty employees were using rubber boats to assist with the evacuation of people along the volcano’s shoreline.

According to Ikram, authorities also evacuated a jail on Tagulandang island, transporting 17 prisoners, 11 officials, and 19 locals by boat to Likupang harbor in northern Sulawesi island.

The rescuer said that the jail chief ordered the evacuation since the institution is situated right across from the volcano.

Visitors and locals were advised to stay outside the six-kilometer exclusion zone.

Following the first eruption on Tuesday night, more than 800 people were first transferred from Ruang to Tagulandang. However, on Wednesday, four further explosions forced the evacuation of that island.

on order for his group to “carry out evacuation for people in the coast or near the coast” facing the volcano, Paendong requested more boats and supplies.

Viewed from Sitaro, North Sulawesi, this handout picture was taken on April 17, 2024, and published by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. It depicts Mount Ruang spewing hot lava and smoke over the Sangihe Islands.
In Indonesia’s most remote area, a volcano erupts, forcing hundreds of people to flee amid a tsunami warning

Authorities also issued a tsunami warning in response to the eruptions.

The head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, Hendra Gunawan, stated in a statement on Wednesday that “the communities in Tagulandang island, particularly those residing near the beach, (need) to be on alert for the potential ejection of incandescent rocks, hot clouds discharges and tsunami caused by the collapse of the volcano’s body into the sea.”

The past experience added to the authorities’ concerns.

A significant eruption in 2018 caused large portions of Mount Anak Krakatoa to fall into the ocean, partially collapsing the volcano’s crater and injuring many more. The tsunami that resulted from the eruption claimed over 400 lives.

Because Indonesia is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc formed by the collision of tectonic plates that spans the Pacific basin and extends from Japan to Southeast Asia, the country is subject to regular seismic and volcanic activity.

Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado City, which is more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the volcano, was closed for 24 hours till Thursday evening due to the effects of Mount Ruang’s eruption.

The Manado area airport authority office’s chief, Ambar Suryoko, stated in a statement that the runway closure was “due to the spread of volcanic ash which could endanger flight safety.”

Airlines to Singapore, as well as places in South Korea and China, operate out of this airport.

“All flights… impacted because the airport is affected by the eruption of Mount Ruang, volcanic ash,” Manado airport officer Dimas, 29, told AFP over the phone.

In addition, low-cost carrier AirAsia said on social networking site X that it has canceled flights till Friday morning “due to (the) Mount Ruang eruption” from nine airports in eastern Malaysia and Brunei.