In Jakarta, Indonesia, Mount Ibu, a volcano located in the North Maluku province, erupted on Monday. The eruption emitted thick grey ash and dark clouds, reaching heights of 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky for a duration of five minutes, according to officials.
Hendra Gunawan, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, stated, “The volcanic earthquakes are still intense, so there is potential for a future eruption.”
Following an eruption on Friday, the center raised the volcano’s alert level from 2 to 3, the second-highest level. This escalation widens the evacuation zone radius. While local authorities have prepared evacuation tents, no evacuation orders have been issued yet.
Officials have advised residents and tourists to refrain from any activities within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius of Mount Ibu’s crater. Gunawan mentioned that more than 13,000 people reside within this 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius on the northern side of the crater.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, the Ibu volcano erupted on Monday morning, according to the country’s volcanology agency. Thick columns of grey ash were ejected several kilometers into the sky from the volcano located on the remote island of Halmahera.
The eruption, occurring at 9:12 a.m., lasted approximately five minutes, sending ash clouds soaring as high as 5 kilometers, as confirmed by officials. A smaller eruption had also been recorded on Friday.
Hendra Gunawan, head of Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre, stated in a release that the volcano’s alert status remains at the second-highest level. He emphasized the prohibition of all activities within a 5-kilometer radius of the volcano.
Hendra further advised, “If ashfall occurs, we recommend that people near the volcano wear masks and protective eyewear.”
Footage of the eruption, shared by the center, depicted clouds of gray ash billowing from the crater, accompanied by a booming noise.
As of now, there have been no reports of resident evacuations. Indonesia, situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is home to 127 active volcanoes, as reported by the volcanology agency.
Recent weeks have seen eruptions from North Sulawesi’s Ruang volcano, emitting incandescent lava with flashes of lightning from its crater. This led to the evacuation of over 12,000 individuals from a nearby island.
Additionally, in December, Marapi volcano erupted, one of Sumatra’s most active, releasing gray ash clouds as high as 3 kilometers, resulting in the loss of more than 20 lives.
The volcano, which stands at 1,325 meters (4,347 feet) tall, is situated on the northwest coast of the secluded island of Halmahera.
Indonesia, an archipelago with a population of 270 million, is home to 120 active volcanoes. Its susceptibility to volcanic activity is due to its location along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped belt of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean.
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