Indonesia’s Mt. Sinabung volcano erupts, again

By Riyaz ul Khaliq </p> <p>ANKARA – A volcano suddenly erupted on Tuesday morning in Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province, local media reported.</p> <p>According to The Jakarta Post, a local daily, the volcano erupted early this morning after being inactive for about a year.</p> <p>“The eruption took place at 6:41 a.m. [2341 GMT Monday], spewing ash 2,000 meters into the air in a northeast direction,” the daily quoted Nurul Asrori, a Sinabung monitoring officer, as saying. </p> <p>The official said that the eruption was “first since May 2018” and was felt until 10:44 a.m. (0344GMT). </p> <p>“The ash spew could drift as far as 15 kilometers [9 miles],” he said. </p> <p>According to Karo Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPDB) head Martin Sitepu, four districts were badly affected by the eruption. </p> <p>The volcano, which has been rumbling since 2010 and underwent a deadly eruption in 2016, did not have a lava dome, the report added.</p> <p>“Nobody is allowed to do anything within a 3-km [1.9-mile] radius in the north-west sector, 4-km [2.5-mile] in the south-west sector, 7-km [4.3-mile] in the south-southeast sector, 6-km [3.8-mile] in the southeast-east sector and within a 4-km [2.5-mile] radius in the north-east sector,” Asrori said. </p> <p>The BPDB head said the volcano eruption has hit the local economy hard because the ash damaged plantations. </p> <p>Indonesia is home to about 130 volcanoes because of its position on the Ring of Fire, a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.