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JAKARTA: A volcano in eastern Indonesia’s Nusa Tenggara province erupted on Sunday (November 29), spewing ash and smoke as high as 4 km into the sky and forcing more than 2,700 residents to seek shelter, it said. the country’s disaster mitigation agency.
Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country, and although many show high levels of activity, it can take weeks or even months before an eruption.
Raditya Jati, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement that the eruption of the Mt Ile Lewotolok volcano, some 2,600 kilometers east of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, had caused panic among those living nearby.
About 2,780 people from 26 villages had sought refuge, although no casualties have been reported so far, Jati said.
Muhammad Ilham, a 17-year-old who witnessed the eruption, told Reuters that nearby residents were “in panic and are still seeking shelter and in need of money at this time.”
Indonesia’s Center for Geological Hazard Mitigation and Volcanology said on its website that the area near the volcano is likely to be flooded with “hot clouds, lava flows, lava avalanches, and poisonous gas.”
Kasbani, the head of the center, told Reuters that the volcano’s status was raised to the second highest level in Indonesia’s four-level alert system due to “increasing threats.”
There are only three other volcanoes at this level, the agency said. These include the Merapi volcano on the island of Java and Sinabung in Sumatra, which erupted this month.
