Cape Town - Thousands of people in Indonesia have been evacuated after Mount Semeru spewed hot volcanic ash, prompting evacuations of nearly 2 000 residents on Sunday.
Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, PVMBG, said the alert level of volcanic activity had been raised to the highest Level 4.
Citing CNN reports, the agency warned residents to stay at least 17km away from Semeru’s eruption centre, adding that volcanic ash had reached as far as 12km from the epicentre.
Authorities said they had been evacuating residents of the two nearest villages, Supit Urang and Sumber Wuluh, and had warned other locals to stay away at least 13km from the eruption range, according to reports by China’s People’s Daily.
On Sunday, the Semeru volcano also erupted, killing at least 51 people and injuring 169.
According to media reports, rescuers evacuated more people on Monday from nearby villages, with officials warning of danger from cooling lava despite less activity from the volcano, AFP has reported.
On Saturday, A 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s main island of Java, the US Geological Survey said, shaking the same town devastated by another quake last month that left more than 330 people dead.
IOL