Medan | The Indonesian Sinabung volcano projected a spectacular column of ash and smoke on Tuesday morning several kilometers above sea level against a blue sky.
Volcanologists have recorded more than thirteen projections that reached some 5,000 meters high above the island of Sumatra.
The Indonesian authorities, however, have not raised the alert level of the volcano, already at the third level on a scale of four, but prohibit access to an area of five kilometers in radius around its crater.
“The residents are scared and many are staying at home to protect themselves from the thick volcanic ash,” Roy Bangun, a 41-year-old farmer told AFP.
The cloud of smoke emitted by the Sinabung is the largest since 2010, observed Muhammad Nurul Asrori, an official in charge of monitoring the volcano, warning of increased risks.
“The large lava dome can erupt at any time triggering an even worse avalanche of scorching clouds.”
Sinabung, a volcano that rises to 2,460 meters in the north of the island of Sumatra, lay dormant for several centuries before waking up in 2010 in an eruption that killed two people.
The volcano has experienced two other fatal eruptions, one in 2014 killing at least 16 people and the other in 2016 with seven other victims.
There are 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets. The country is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of strong seismic activity and volcanic eruptions, where three large tectonic plates converge (Indo-Pacific, Australian, Eurasian).
The Merapi on the island of Java has also shown strong activity in recent weeks. It again emitted incandescent lava flows on Monday.