Thousands of islanders will be evacuated after a volcano erupted in eastern Indonesia, spewing a huge plume of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, officials said Wednesday.
Mount Ibu, located on the remote island of Halmahera, erupted for the fifth time this year on Wednesday, sending a plume of smoke four kilometers into the air.
The Indonesian Geological Agency subsequently raised the volcano’s alert status to the highest level.
“Following the raising of Mount Ibu’s (alert) level, we will evacuate residents of five villages today,” said local disaster management chief Wawan Gunawan Ali. He added that local authorities planned to evacuate approximately 3,000 residents from nearby villages on Wednesday afternoon.
A AFP A journalist on the ground reported that many residents had already gathered at a town hall, ready to evacuate.
Mount Ibu has shown a significant increase in volcanic activity since last June, following a series of earthquakes. In the first weeks of January alone, the volcano, which is one of the most active in Indonesia, erupted four times.
Residents living near Mount Ibu and tourists have been advised to avoid a five to six kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano’s summit and to wear face masks in case of falling ash.
In 2022, around 700,000 people lived on Halmahera Island, according to official data.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity as it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Last November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-meter twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted more than a dozen times in a week, killing nine people in its initial explosion.
Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times last year, forcing thousands of people to evacuate from nearby islands.
