Indonesia volcano spews huge ash tower after exclusion zone widened
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Villagers fleeing during an eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, in East Flores, Indonesia.
PHOTO: AFP
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EAST FLORES, Indonesia – A volcano in eastern Indonesia belched a huge ash tower more than 8km into the sky on Nov 8, after officials widened an exclusion zone for locals.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703m twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, has erupted more than a dozen times this week, killing 10 people after its initial burst on Nov 3.
“There were two eruptions: first at 1.55pm, the height reached 4,000m. But suddenly, a minute later, the volcanic ash reached 8km to 10km,” volcanology agency head Prihatin Hadi Wijaya said at a press conference.
Officials at the monitoring post had to evacuate after the colossal eruption, he said, as ash and rocks rained down and residents outside an exclusion zone watched on.
The volcanology agency extended the exclusion zone by 1km to a total of 8km around the crater on Nov 7.
There were no immediate reports of damage to nearby villages from the fresh eruption on Nov 8.
The mountain on Nov 7 catapulted an ash tower
Officials raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system after the initial eruptions on Nov 3.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for woman.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire. AFP
